removing green coating

[A_DAB_will_do]

Won't work. Neither will sand or media blasting. Not cost effectively, anyway.

Did you try a needle scaler?

[JTMcC]

Several people have commented here that obviously have no experience removing FBE coating from line pipe, be it green, yellow, brown, red or any other color.

I should add that if your "old pipe" has a coating that can be "chipped off" then the likelyhood is about 99.9% that it contains asbestos and should be handled with care if'n you want live to be an old gezzer who's not struggling to suck in the next breath. On a commercial job the law specifies the handling/disposal : 0 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ of asbestos laden materials and you better be prepared to read volumns, shell out tens of thousands daily, and comply with 127,438 federal/state/local regs.

If you're trying to remove regular old FBE (used for a long, long time now), THE fastest/cheapest way is with a 9" grinder and a large stringer bead brush, a tiger (flap/sanding) disc comes a close second. Add a rock shield and fire becomes your friend but if you're dealing with that you are already aware.
Either way don't breath the dust please.

If you're "chipping" it off then you are dealing with material that will likely put your wife and children into the huge asbestos/mesothelioma class action lawsuit where the (small amount of) money can be slightly helpfull to the survivors but don't do your dead a$$ no good.

JT

[elvis]

Sounds like you have been pipelining for a while JT...

I only had a little bit of pipe to deal with so it wasn't too bad. Given that it is supposed to be buried it doesn't surprise me how hard it is to remove!

This was a good lesson and next time I will look harder or pay extra for bare pipe!