Best Varnish Remover?

[Taras]

Hi All,
What is the best varnish remover that any of you have used.*** What seems to work best for "interior" applications?**

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[Marin]

A heat gun and scrapers. This ensures that you get the varnish off without removing any wood. My wife has become a veritable artist with a Makita heat gun. When we need to remove a bright finish like varnish, she's the one who does it. Much better at it than I am.

 

[Moondance]

I use non-toxic Citristrip. It works very well.

 

[Delfin]

Any of them.* The key is to cover the wet film with saran wrap, leave it on for awhile, then scrape.* Paint remover is highly volatile and outgasses too quickly to fully do the job.* The saran wrap prevents this.

Heat gun works too, with the key word being WORK.

 

[Larry M]

If you use a heat gun, be careful you don't burn the wood. Start on an area that doesn't show till you get a feel for it.

 

[Jay N]

Another heat gun caution, is to not overheat window trim - the glass can crack.

 

[Carey]

Marin wrote:

A heat gun and scrapers. This ensures that you get the varnish off without removing any wood. My wife has become a veritable artist with a Makita heat gun. When we need to remove a bright finish like varnish, she's the one who does it. Much better at it than I am.

How clever of you to convince Ruth that she was a better heat gun operator. Somehow, I need to convince Dorothy that she is the better cook.*

*

 

[Datenight]

I use the cheapest stripper (chemical type) I can find and a razor sharp scraper. Let the stripper work for about 10 minutes before scraping. Sharpen often.

Rob
37' Sedan

 

[Marin]

Jay N wrote:

Another heat gun caution, is to not overheat window trim - the glass can crack.

Very true, and gelcoat can be damaged or discolored.* My wife has a series of "heat sinks" (pieces of laminate) in various shapes and sizes that she tapes, hangs, or holds in place to protect adjacent surfaces.

*

 

[Taras]

Thank you all for the great suggestions.
I never would have thought of putting Saran Wrap over the remover.
Great ideas!* What a excellent resource for information.
Steve

 

[koliver]

On my last sailboat, I stripped all of the varnish. I tried chemicals and heat. I had the best results by far with heat.
On my present boat, I haven't removed much varnish, preferring to spot repair and keep the finish up. That approach seems to work, as I get constant praise for the condition of the varnish, despite leaving it, except for attention to spots, a lot longer between coats than I ever used to. Part of the reduced schedule has to do with choosing the right varnish, as has been discussed in other threads.

 

[Delfin]

Taras, one more thing I have found critical is to use a back scraper, whatever method you use for softening the varnish.* You pull a back scraper rather than push it, which is critical to avoid gouging wood or for working odd shapes.* Good luck!

 

[marinetrader]

I used a heat gun for years; it would take hours to strip the teak. But recently I used a gel paint remover called "Dads" to strip my sundeck. I tell you, it went faster than I could have imagined and cleaned up real nicely.

 

[Moondance]

Bahco scrapers.

 

[Taras]

Delfin,
Back scraper!* Excellent point.
Thank you,
Taras

 

[Delfin]

Just don't confuse it with a back scratcher.* Totally different technology solution.

 

[Phil Fill]

the Eagle*has more teak than several boats combined.* i use the heat gun with a wet vac to get the majority of then orbital sand with 80 grit to get the rest off.* Takes about one hour to do do a 10 to 20 ft sections.* The trick to bright work is not doing to big of a section at a time and do the poorest/worst sections first.*

 

[Forkliftt]

Just a quick hijack of the thread- I have several small doors with small brass hinges on the flybridge that I need to refinish in the spring. I have remove the small brass screws to remove a few doors on other parts of the boat and it is a PITA to get theses hinge screws out.
I was looking today and I see where the hinge "pin" is mushroomed on the top and bottom. Is seems to me I might be able to take a Dremmel tool and grind the lower mushroom off of the pin and then use a small pin punch and hammer to drive out the pin- elimenating the work of removing these screws. Has anyone done this- or found another simpler way to remove the doors?

 

[shipshape]

This is what my wife is achieving with just the black scraper and the heatgun .... I am sanding after it with a 80 grid ..... than I will sand it with 240 ..... She is good !!! and she is a good cook too ! *I am lucky am I not?

 

[Keith]

You shouldn't jump grit sizes that far. You'll just smooth off the top and leave the 80 grit gouges. I go from 80 to 120 to 180, and varnish then. Sometimes to 220.

 

[koliver]

What Keith reccommends! Then build up with successive coats of varish, sanding with successively finer paper. i am up to 320 to 400 grit on my rails now, after building up to 10 or 15 coats, and the results are stunning.