I am removing some of my interior trim to bring it home for stripping/revarnishing. In my '97, the varnish appears to be water based, as it doesn't hold up at all to getting wet. Is there any product you'd recommend for removing this varnish? I've tried a couple strippers on a piece of trim and didn't get good results (don't remember the brands of the top of my head). They've always worked fine on paint and oil based varnish, but don't seem to work as well, if at all, on the water based stuff.
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Gary and Cathy Price
1997 C36 Mk II Tall Rig/Wing Keel Imagine...
Hull # 1617
Worton Creek, Md.
Northern Chesapeake Bay
I use a furniture refinishing product called Circa 1850, it comes as a gel or a fairly thick liquid. This stuff has removed anything I've ever tried it on including two part finishes like Bristol, oil based urethanes, varnish, and water based finishes as well.
It works very fast, you pour it on a small area, spread, wait about a minute and then peel it off with a scraper, careful to not gouge or mark the wood. Have not run across anything that it won't remove, yet. You can use bronze wool or one of the really coarse scrubbing pads to get into small areas with it. Wear heavy rubber gloves, not the thin jobs.
I wash the wood with denatured alcohol to remove any traces of the stripper then sand and refinish. The guy who told me about this alcohol step is the distributor for Target Coatings in Canada, Wood Essence. Target Coatings is who made the finish is on the Mark II interiors. I'm in the process of re-doing a bunch of the interior woodwork on our boat and so far it seems to be working fine, I have completely stripped and refinished the big dinette table and it came out very well, looks like new and it had some really nasty scars in the finish from its past life.
Wasn't sure if this is available south of the border but I see Jamestown Distributors has it, this is not the gel one it is the heavy body one:
[URL="http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=1695..."]http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=1695...
They also show a marine version that I wasn't aware of, don't have such things in the boonies were we live:
[URL]http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=1236...
Thanks for your reply. I'll give the 1850 a try.
Do you know which of the Target Coatings products was used on the Mk II interiors? It seems to have a lightener in it, as anytime I've re-varnished a piece of teak that has a spot of finish missing, it comes up much darker. That's why I usually wind up stripping first, then varnishing the whole piece. I'd like to avoid doing that if possible.
Gary and Cathy Price
1997 C36 Mk II Tall Rig/Wing Keel Imagine...
Hull # 1617
Worton Creek, Md.
Northern Chesapeake Bay
They don't make the one they used back then anymore but they told me to use EM2000WVX Satin, that is the product they replaced the original with.
I haven't tried it on any spot areas yet since I stripped the entire table so not sure how that will work out. Maybe you need to clean the area first with rubbing alcohol or something similar? Could be grit or dirt is getting into the wood and that needs to be flushed out before recoating? Just a guess though because I've heard of this problem before but never heard of a solution for it. Perhaps someone else has?