On my other boat, which has varnished mahogany toe rails, I have taken them down to bare wood about once a decade. The last job was so successful that it has been about 15 years now. But the varnish film is failing badly so I've started over again. I've tried to get the removal part done this fall so i can get all the staining and varnishing done next spring.
Problem is getting the old varnish off. First I bought some stripper at the hardware store; it's all methylene chloride free, for safety. It's so safe that it poses no danger at all to varnished surfaces. I found some containers of meth. ch. based removers and used them up. But that new stuff.... The job is mostly done now and the rest will have to await next spring, unless we have a warm spell when i visit the location at Christmas. I was thinking that maybe part of the effectiveness issue was the temps i was working in (mid-40s). Don't want to try working in the 30s.
Yeah, I know that heat removers are effective in many cases but chemicals are better suited to this task.
So does anybody have experience with an effective chemical finish remover?
Chris Campbell
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