Quick report from the field.
The floor buffer with coating removal tool is not bad. It requires many passes - on areas with not too much cutback, maybe 10 or 15 passes. On the thickest areas of cutback - solid black - the tool doesn’t do much. I guess it will eventually work but will take forever.
EDIT: actually, FK the buffer. It just caught on who knows what and sprayed splinters of floor from a gouged out board that now gets added to my fixit list. Done with the buffer.
The best tool for the thickest areas is my PaintShaver Pro, the same tool I used to strip my house siding to bare wood last year. This patch took 30 seconds.
The PaintShaver cuts off the cutback as easily as it cuts off many layers of paint, typically one pass and you’re at bare wood. It leaves a raw, rough, clean wood surface that will need sanding. Plus it has better dust collection than the buffer. It won’t gouge the wood as the buffer can if something goes wrong. It is more effort to use, though.
