The Makita Paint Shaver Pro removes paint quickly from flat surfaces but has the potential to gouge material.

I spent a fair amount of time this summer stripping the front of the house to prepare it for painting using a variety of techniques, including chemical strippers and infrared heat. When I mentioned the project to a co-worker, he offered to lend me Makita’s Paint Shaver Pro. I gladly accepted the offer. The Paint Shaver Pro is an angle grinder with a carbide cutting head that grinds paint (and wood if you’re not careful) as you move it across a surface. Paint removal with the tool is fast, especially compared to other stripping methods, but that speed comes at a cost.

The grinding head strips smooth wood like clapboard siding and trim but does not handle textured surface like my home’s shingled exterior well, grinding away the wood’s texture as well as surface paint. The way the tool strips paint sends chips flying at speed into your hands and arms. And the dust was only partially-successful and collecting the stripped paint, requiring additional cleanup. Despite these limitations, the Paint Shaver Pro is worth considering if you need to strip an exterior of smooth-surfaced wood.

The Makita Paint Shaver Pro removes paint quickly from flat surfaces but has the potential to gouge material.

More Information

• • https://www.finehomebuilding.com/2013/09/04/paintshaver-pro. Read Fine Homebuilding‘s Review.

• https://paintshaver.com/paintshaver-pro/. See the manufacturer’s site for instructional videos.