Varnish/paint removal help?

NUTMEG

NUTMEG

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www.theblindsailor.co.uk
Lady Jayne has been abused in the past. Her bright work has been neglected, the varnish on her spars is flaking and where there is no varnish, her woodwork has been painted brown!

What is the best way to remove old paint and flaky varnish? Belt sander, scraper plane, spokes shave or orbital? Hot air gun any good?I hate Nitromores!

Steep learning curve!

Thanks
 
It depends if you want to re-paint or re-varnish afterwards.
I would not go for any of the mechanical methods you suggested as they are too aggressive.
If you want to re-varnish afterwards then you will have to get all traces of the paint off as it will show through on the new varnish and look nasty.
You can use a hot air gun but you have to be VERY careful not to scorch the wood. A simple scraper is probably the best way followed by a serious amount of rubbing down with the grain with a quality sandpaper. The better stuck on stuff is probably best shifted with nitromors I'm afraid. Make sure you wash it all off afterwards though.
Trouble is you will probably find all sorts of nastiness under the brown paint. The prvious owner probably painted it to cover the fact that he had let the wood blacken. You may then need to bleach it with oxalic acid and then re-stain.
It will be a lot of work but you will get the benfit of truly beautiful brightwork afterwards. There is nothing better than watching the first coat of varnish go on.
Good luck
 
I always use hot air gun and scarsten scraper. Yes, you can scorch wood but if you keep your eye on what you are doing and lift off the heat when to old paint/varnish begins to bubble you should be fine.

This method is no good in any sort of wind and you need still, dry conditions.

Sanding is fine to get a smooth surface but tends to dull the grain. If you have a pleasantly grained surface you will see a much nicer result with a scraper - preferably a Swedish cabinet scraper although that is pretty hard work.

Good luck.
 
Thanks chaps

Some helpful stuff so far. Any more ideas before I start? I like the idea of getting the missus to do it but doubt I can come up with a convincing argument!!
 
The main methods have been covered. You have to experiment to find which is most effective and suits you. Often it is a combination - for example using chemical means to get thick layers off then dry scraping. Some things are easier to d than others - masts are generally easy because you have large areas to deal with, but detailed joinery tricky because of changes in planes and crevices to hold old varnish.

Most important asset is patience!
 
Had the same issue with Paean. Some areas we stripped with the yellow Nitromors and the rest we used an orbital sander to get through the old stuff then hand snded to the finish we wanted.

Was a lot of work and a real pita BUT results are well worth it.

I tried a few varnishes and to my mind nothing beats Epafines. Its a single pack and you have to take some care in applying it but it looks fab - which is what you want after all the hard preperation work.
 
Depending on the paint or varnish, I use different tools.
Sometimes an Abru scraper, kept sharp with a file. Use hot or cold.
Sometimes old fashioned scrapers, sharpened.
Sometimes a stanley blade in a holder (often good for finishing)
Sometimes a Harris tungsten carbide scraper. I use this with the hot airgun.
If using it cold, it needs to be sharp, I've used old planer blades cut in half (using a dremel).
Sometimes an old chisel and the heat gun.

If something does not work well, try another tool or method.
 
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