Removing black epoxy from Kelly Green shell.
So, I got a Kelly green arm shell tonight off craigslist, which had a cover on it, but was in terrible condition with wet foam and un repairable tears.


Sadly, the type of adhesive used seemed to not only be the glue on the seat, which is easy to remove, but a hardened epoxy in several spots on the chair. Seemed a bit excessive to me, but , as I would love to restore the shell, I am trying to see if heating the epoxy might be a way to remove them. I considered sanding, but don't want to damage the shell too much as other than these spots it is in amazing shape.


A tough one, but I am willing to take the time to do it right.

Any suggestions out there... I got some of it to come off by heating it enough as it does seem to soften and lift up.

A great color for sure.

Heat
Is the recommended method for removing the original shock mount epoxy. Sorry, I can't offer much beyond that.

The epoxy
Is the same as is used on the shock mounts from what I can tell. It seems in this case, black epoxy was placed on the arms, front base lip and top lip to allow for adhesion of the fabric base, then foam and Girard cover.

I have a before shot enclosed.... I can post an after shot later at some point if anyone is interested in how I did it. I did have to resort to some sanding and loss of surface fiber in some of these areas, but with some patience I minimized that and had to do the penatrol coat. I only needed one thin coat to even any of the surface out as the sanding was not too deep.



This was a pain, but I would be hard pressed to notice anything, short of the light wear in the areas the epoxy was located.

Now my girlfriend has a sewing chair. I think I spent more on the cleaning supplies than the chair itself, so this was fun and rewarding. I miss seeing shells for reasonable prices anymore and never considered saving one until I saw this. Learned a lot.

Well done.
Kelly Green arm shells are not very common.

Bravo!
^

Thanks guys
Much appreciated. I felt good seeing it turn out well. I really only used a very light single coat of penetrol, as I did not want to make it unrealistically shiny. I did not do the back at all. The back was fine as is, and just took a magic eraser to it.

I was honestly sad to not be able to keep the Girard fabric on it, but it was trashed. It was the green/ white checkerboard but had a huge tear/hole in the seat and the foam smelled and was old water damage.

The Kelly green is a sexy color in an armchair.