I have some IKEA shelves that need flattening and paint removed.  Because I live in an one bedroom apartment is it feasible to think that I can do this work with a hand planer?  Prolonged sanding and chemicals are not an option.  

Welcome to the site. IMHO, I would leave the plane on the shelf and use cabinet/card scrapers.  If the scraper is sharp you can peel the paint right off. 

Welcome!

+1 for what Ron said

Welcome! The concern I would have for IKEA shelves is whether they are particle board covered with some kind of material. If they are wood, a scraper would (should) remove the paint easily, though if you don't have them you would also want a way to sharpen them. Flattening might be a little tougher depending on how bowed they are. If you can get them repainted, would it be possible to just turn them upside down? They might straighten out on their own. But to your question about the hand plane, you would probably also want a way to hold the board in place, like a workbench with a vise, to do the planing.

Chemicals and sanding could be done outdoors.

Welcome!   And my experience with IKEA (and similar):  they're really intended for just one use; moving or disassembling (or looking at them crosswise) is often beyond their design/construction intent.  If you think a hand plane is needed, that sounds pretty severe (I'm assuming the plane would be used for straightening).  As noted above, turning a sagging shelf over is a better option (and if the bend is that obvious, correcting it with a plane would remove more thickness than desired). 

 

Why remove the existing paint?  The underlying wood/particle board is rarely pretty enough for raw display, and paint removal can be destructive.  I'd just sand/scuff the surfaces and repaint.

 

Good luck!

The shelves are made of solid pine but there isn't an option of just flipping them since they have factory installed hardware that locks into a pin.  I wish I could take them outside and chemically strip them but my landlord would have something to say about that.  

 

I hadn't thought about a scraper but trying to sharpen any tool like planes, scrapers and knives scares me.  Inevitably I make things worse.  How does one learn to sharpen their tools?

9 hours ago, Woodworker Wanna Be said:

How does one learn to sharpen their tools?

Type your question into YouTube search.

 

Then jump back.

 

 

If the shelves are sagging due to load, there are some remedies:

--add another shelf layer to the existing and glue/screw the layers together.  This increases the thickness and the resistance to bending

--use a stiffener piece such as 1/2 x 3/4 and glue/screw it to the underside of the shelf.  This also essentially increases the bending moment resistance

--use a stiffener such as 1/2" or 3/4" aluminum angle, screwed to the underside

10 hours ago, Woodworker Wanna Be said:

How does one learn to sharpen their tools?

show us a picture of your workshop so we can get an idea of what you have and help you move forward 

My suggestion would be either sanding or a cabinet scraper.  You can get scrapers with a prepared edge, and it would maybe last long enough to finish the job.  Putting a burr on a scraper is tough, lots of people struggle with it, like sharpening.  Any kind of planing and you'll need a sturdy bench to hold the work, without that planing is not feasible.

 

Sanding is messy and tedious, but it's about the most approachable method.  You could also try the orange stripper from HD or wherever.   It uses terpene compounds from orange peel supposedly, and it has worked well the few times I used it.  That you could use indoors, it's much less strong smelling and nasty than the heavy duty strippers.

Welcome! 

 

If your IKEA shelves are the typical particleboard with a laminate or veneer, a hand planer might not work well coz it can tear the surface or expose the crumbly stuff underneath. Instead, try a carbide scraper. It’s quiet, doesn’t make much mess, and works without chemicals. Way more apartment-friendly than sanding or stripping.

If the shelves are solid wood though, then yea, a hand planer could do the job, just go slow and be careful