Best scrapers?

[Vala]

Doesn't the paint shaver pro actually chew off a layer of your clapboards?

At least to me, unless you have very thick clapboards this sounds like a bad thing, I have very thin clapboards I don't use any powertools its all by hand but that works for me.

[Mick_VT]

it removes a very small amount, about as much (or less) as a sander might - just a few thousands of an inch if used right. My clapboards are narrow, just about 2.5" reveal and not thick by modern standards. I have no worries. The paint shaver is a one off thing, i.e. you only need to use it about once a lifetime, it is for total removal of paint e.g. lead or generations of paint layers. I have both - my paint is about 1/16" thick almost all of it lead, the accumulation of 150 years of paint on paint.

[ashevillian]

What grit sandpapers do people use? I understand people who use heavy duty sanders like the Festool RAS 115 (or paint shavers) use 36-50 grit to start and then go up from there. How smooth do people get the siding before paint? On some websites people where using 4-5 different sandpaper grits which seemed a bit overkill to me.

[Mick_VT]

I dont like to go too smooth as it can cause issues with adhesion. For siding I only usually go as far as about 150 grit.

[phil]

you might be better off to primer and sand that until level, the reason being that feathered paint near the feathered edges is just a super super thin layer much thinner than the coat of paint itself. Instead if you primer and sand that then at least the paint you didn't get off isn't so feathered out. the other reason is then you are sanding mostly the non leaded new primer rather than the old hard paint. Others with more experience could chime in with their take , yea of course you need to scrape if the paint is really thick and sure get most off if you can, but I am not sue that layer of super micro-thin old paint is going to help with adhesion. of course the surface needs to be clean, so sanding could be part of the cleaning and maybe that depends what you have done prior?