I am in the process of stripping paint off a 1940-ish radio. White/green /pink/white. I can just imagine some high school girl painting this thing pink for use in her bedroom - probably sometime in the 60s.

Anyway, I still have the knobs to strip and they are most likely bakelite. Is it safe to use a chemical stripper with methylene chloride on these?

I'd let them soak in straight ammonia for an hour or so, then hit them with an old toothbrush.

You'd be surprised what just very hot tap water would do. I've stripped whole bakelite cabinets this way.

I'd try many other things before methylene choloride on the knobs.

It's pretty nasty stuff.