Back when we first purchased our house, one of my first projects was to strip several decades of paint from a door. I did what most people unfortunately do in that situation, I went to my local big box store and bought a can of typical methylene chloride paint stripper. I observed what I thought were proper precautions: long sleeves, thick gloves, eye protection and a respirator. I kinda admit it seemed like overkill at the time, until I noticed some pain on my arm. That pain turned out to be my burning flesh. It seems a drop of stripper snuck past my long leaves and decided my skin was just as suitable to dissolve as old paint. That was the last time I used methylene chloride, and I vowed to find a slightly less flesh-consuming option in the future.
If you do a quick google search for methylene chloride or check out the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) on your favorite mainstream paint stripper, you’ll find a fairly unappealing list of topics like cancer, blindness, respiratory damage, and Spontaneous Thermonuclear Incineration. Being a bit shy when it comes to those things (especially SNI), I embarked on several misadventures with “green” and “eco-friendly” (non flesh-eating) paint strippers. Most of them worked, but not particularly well. What might take a methylene chloride stripper five minutes tended to take the friendlier paint strippers multiple applications over several days. Yes, I said days. Considering I find paint stripping to be one of the most mind-numbing, tedious and vile home improvement projects, those products simply were not acceptable.
Ultimately, I stumbled across Franmar Soy Gel paint remover, a biodegradable product made from 100% American Grown soybeans in Bloomington, Illinois. That’s right, soybeans! Makes you think twice about ordering up that Edamame appetizer, doesn’t it? I have purchased several bottles of SoyGel over the years, and Franmar also sent me a bottle after I met up with them at the National Hardware Show earlier this year. After refining my technique over several projects, I’m happy to report it’s the best green paint stripper alternative I’ve found to date.
While I wouldn’t recommend drinking it or taking a bath in it, it’s seems considerably less noxious and hazardous to work with than Methylene Chloride. If you like to read up on that kind of thing, you can find Franmar Soy Gel’s Material Safety Data Sheet here. Despite being friendlier (and despite what they show in their videos), they recommend avoiding skin and eye contact, and recommend safety goggles to prevent the latter. At least that’s what they say in the MSDS. I’ve found having good ventilation while working around Soy Gel is also prudent. My vision became a little blurry when working with Soy Gel in a very enclosed, unventilated space (I know, great idea). I took that as a cue that ventilation is a good idea. Plus, despite the fumes relatively mild smell, I prefer avoiding fumes as much as possible.
Maximizing the effectiveness of SoyGel paint remover has taken a little effort. If you’re used to working with Methylene Chloride, you’ll need to plan ahead a bit, and understand SoyGel isn’t quite as powerful. I found the following three secrets to SoyGel application help my paint stripping projects go a lot more smoothly:
Lay It On Thick
Don’t treat this as a painting project where you daintily brush on a thin layer of SoyGel. I use a cheap and disposable chip brush and absolutely glop it on. Think Joan Rivers makeup application here. You want a nice, thick, uniform layer of stripper on whatever you’re wanting removed from your precious wood.
Wrap It Up
The worst enemy to your paint remover is drying out. No matter how thick you put it on, SoyGel will dry out, especially if you’re doing this outdoors or in a well ventilated space (something we recommend earlier in the article). I used plastic sheeting (cut to fully cover whatever area I have slathered SoyGel on). If the sheeting isn’t super thick you can actually press it onto the SoyGel and it will even stay in place on vertical or upside down surfaces (the thicker/heavier the plastic, the more likely it is to pull away from the SoyGel stripper).
Let the Stripper Do the Work
Oh, if only I had a dollar for every time I have uttered that phrase. It’s really a great strategy to live by. Of course, what I mean here is to apply the stripper, apply the plastic and then let it all percolate, preferably overnight. If you have a single thin layer of paint, you can definitely get away with less time (as little as a half hour). However, if you have multiple layers of paint, you’ll want around 12 to 24 hours. Whatever the thickness of paint, you’ll almost immediately begin to see the paint bubbling away from the surface. Very impressive for something that won’t instantly dissolve a limb. I sometimes do a second application the same way for particularly thick or stubborn layers of paint.
Don’t get me wrong, paint stripping with SoyGel is still an absolutely tedious, messy and hellish task, but hopefully you’ll make it through your project with all your skin and sans cancer. You’ll want to make sure you carefully protect all nearby surfaces. I also recommend wearing disposable shoe covers if you’re doing a larger project where you’ll be getting stripper on the floor (which is inevitable if you’re stripping something like a door jamb). You’ll also want to follow lead-safe practices if you’re dealing with lead paint. If you’re not sure if the paint is lead based, there are several lead paint test kits on the market. I also recommend investing in a high quality paint stripping tool or two. . . quality, sharp blades make a huge difference. Franmar has a handy Tech Sheet with more details on Soy Gel. The product was also featured on an exceptionally cheesy Designing Spaces episode in the video below:
You can find Soy Gel in various sizes ranging from handy quart size to “you have way too much paint to remove” five gallon size. Prices for Soy-Gel Paint Remover start at around $20 at Amazon:
Franmar Soy Gel is now labeled Blue Bear Soy-Gel Paint Stripper. Buy some now if you need it for a project as many retailers are pulling ALL Methylene Chloride / Methanol based paint strippers off their shelves AND also pulling the newer safety strippers that include NMP (N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidinone) –now you know why people just say NMP.
That includes Soy Gel and many other claimed safe strippers. The EPA was set to ban all these guys but apparently relaxed the ban to only include Methylene Chloride based strippers. Retailers decided since the safety data supported pulling all of them, to do just that. So when they sell out on the shelves, they wont replace them.
There are some expensive hard to find aviation paint strippers that contain benzoyl peroxide blended with low volatile solvents and also some 3M adipate glutarate based strippers that still claim safety, look ’em up online. The aviation strippers are designed to strip epoxy cured paints and two part catalyzed polyurethane paints. Those are very tough paints compared to indoor polyacrylic and varnish and they do it without harming the soft aluminum airplane bodies as methylene chloride reacts with aluminum soit’s a no go.
The NPR article is titled: Retailers Plan To Clear Deadly Paint Removers From Shelves, As EPA Delays Ban November 18, 2018
Thanks very much for the info and for sharing it here!
How can i get this?
I am in south korea.
Lol! Your funny. Great write up. Using some on a table now.
Thanks Mo! Hope your table turns out great!
The MSDS for this product shows the solvent i.e. active ingredient is 40%-45% N-Methyl Pyrrolidone; CAS Number 872-50-4. This stuff is MUCH LESS VOLATILE than methylene chloride so your chance of exposure to this solvent via evaporation and inhalation is much lower. BUT it is still quite toxic and must be handled with care. I will often cover my paint stripper gels with a thick layer of polyethylene plastic sheet to retard evaporation and reduce my chance of touching it with bare ungloved skin. The advantage of methylene chloride methanol based strippers is that they evaporate so fast that the disposal issues of a waste solvent are mitigated by the solvents evaporating into the air after the residue is scraped off the work piece. Bad for air quality but good for solid waste disposal. If the paint residue has lead paint from older deeper layers of lead based paint, YOU CAN”T DUMP IT IN THE TRASH, but must pay the fees for proper hazardous waste disposal. Contact your local waste disposal company or hard to recycle center for more info. Lead and Asbestos are commonly found in older homes and renovation projects will often uncover their presence.
3M and many other companies sell similar N-Methyl Pyrrolidone based paint strippers. They are all more expensive and much slower working than methylene chloride methanol based strippers. Because N-Methyl Pyrrolidone based strippers do not evaporate for weeks, you must carefully remove the stripper from the wood substrate before painting or staining or risk having the newly applied paint fail to bond or craze badly as a result of the NMP solvent attacking the paint from below the surface over time. Also this stuff will destroy glue and adhesive bonds long after you have used it to remove paint so remember to strip paint in STAGES to avoid over penetrating your work piece and risk fresh paint failure. I only use these low volatility solvent based strippers when other faster evaporating strippers can’t be used. Occupied rooms etc.
I’m using Soy Gel to strip old crackled clear finish from an old Kincaid cedar armoire. The stuff works great. I know I need to thoroughly clean off all stripper residue before attempting to refinish. The directions on the jug recommend soap and water cleanup. But soap is such a broad term. Anyone have more refined recommendation?
Delete the “stripper safe practice” line. It’s stupid and offensive.
What kind of gloves did you use? My kitchen gloves dissolved…just like latex paint.
My kitchen cabinets are stained. Will the soy gel remove that stain?
Hi Charlene. I’m not an expert on Soy Gel, however if the stain is blended into the finish (like a tinted polyurethane), then you might be OK. However, if the stain was applied to the wood first and has permeated the wood, I think the Soy Gel would have a hard time removing it.
The company that sells soy-gel, Franmar, has a new product called Lead-Out. Can you do a product review for that one? Thanks!
Thank you for your review! It’s just what I was looking for!
You’re welcome Susan, glad you found it useful. Hope you’ll become a regular reader!
loking for soy gel, nowhere in your ad does it give me a clue as to where to buy it
Hi David. . . thanks for your note. First off, let me clarify this was not an “ad”, but rather a product review. As to where to buy it, check out the last paragraph. . . it links directly to where you can find it on Amazon.