Stripping Varnish

[ianandgilly]

I have a nice old wooden boat, the hatches are badly scartched, I ve bben told its best to carefully burn it of, ive always spent hours sanding it off in the past to get to bear wood. I tried it on a sample and a hotblower with a fixed scrapper it came off in second and after gently sanding its come up brilland any comments on this technquie ?? apart from my typing would be much appreciated

Ian


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[gjeffery]

Personal preference, when stripping varnished dinghies, is for the use of Nitromors paint remover. Put on with a brush, and take off with a Skarsten (spring steel) scraper, broken glass, and wire wool. Then wash down and lightly sand.



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[dragoon]

I've had good success using a heat-gun. Just beware of a couple of things;

- Don't let the gun get the wood too hot as it could blacken it, or worse still, if it's plywood it could soften the glues holding the ply together. Hence work in front of the gun and keep moving, not spending too much time in one place.

- when scraping, be careful not to "goudge" the wood. If the varnish is falling off quite easily, I've used a soft wooden spatchelor as it's less likely to cause damage to the underlying wood than a metal scraper.

When I'm done scraping, I sand lightly, wash down with thinners and allow to dry.
This process seems to work quite well.

Cheers,
Paul


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[Althorne]

Hi Ian and Gilly welcome to the forum. If the varnish is on a grp boat I would use Removall 610 which is biodegradable, safe on grp and can be washed with plain and soapy water afetrwards to remove all trace of it. Is supposed to be sting safe on your hands etc (say the manufacturers) and can be left on the grp or wood without damage. Search for Napier Technologies should turn up internet address where you will find all data required. Going to use it next week myself so will keep you posted.
Good luck


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[cameocrew]

Best method I have found is a woodbutchers sharp Cabinet scraper .Goes tru varnish like s**t tru a well fed goose leaving a super smooth finish ( if you scrape
in the direction of grain) Would not allow nasty chemical like Nitromors on board
and nowhere near any timber intended for revarnishing on board or ashore.

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[Franklin]

I remove the stripper with wood shavings using rubber gloves. It leaves a clean dry surface ready to neutralize.

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