# Converting wood stain plastic tank trim to black trim



## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

I just wanted to share with everyone a method for converting the plastic wooden oak trim around the top and bottom of the tank to black plastic trim.

Recently I was renovating a second hand tank that I bought. The previous owner had obviously disliked the oak trim finish and had painted over it with an awful white latex paint. Now latex paint is a horrible paint to deal with. Afte doing a bit of internet research I found that it is possible to remove latex paint using rubbing alcohol or acetone. So I tried both of these chemicals with little affect. Eventually I resorted to my trusty razor blade. After a good hour and a half of careful scraping I managed to get the white paint off. However, I discovered that the plastic trim was oak trim. Since I dislike the wooden trim look I decided to give the acetone a go. Inadvertently I discovered that the acetone removed the oak trim only and left a perfectly black finish underneath! Exactly the same color and texture as normal black trim!

So there you have it. A way to convert oak trim to black trim. Too bad I didn't think of this a few years ago... I would have had far more tanks than I have now. Although perhaps it is for the best that I didn't


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## gravy9 (Aug 28, 2008)

Thank you very much for sharing this information, Mike. I have a black stand and an oak trim tank. I was thinking of covering the oak trim with black electrical tape. Using acetone will give a permanent finish.

Thank you again.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

No problem! I just wanted to add that Acetone is nail polish remover for all those that didn't know


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