Hello all, I have always used nasty chemical strippers to remove heavy accumulations of varnish, but I seem to recall someone in this group saying that heat guns will remove varnish. Elsewhere I have read that heat guns will remove paint, but will only soften varnish and make it gooey. Does anyone out there have personal experience that will solve this quasi-controversy? Thanks, as always, Tom Jenkins M17 Scintilla
I've done both, but I've not repeated the toxic goop alternative since having used a heat gun. It's the only way to go. t On Sun, Jul 13, 2008 at 3:21 PM, Tom Jenkins <tjenk@gte.net> wrote:
Hello all,
I have always used nasty chemical strippers to remove heavy accumulations of varnish, but I seem to recall someone in this group saying that heat guns will remove varnish. Elsewhere I have read that heat guns will remove paint, but will only soften varnish and make it gooey. Does anyone out there have personal experience that will solve this quasi-controversy?
Thanks, as always,
Tom Jenkins
M17 Scintilla
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I had made an earlier post regarding my experiences with using the heat gun. If you've read this earlier, just delete and roll on... I prefer the heat gun above anything I've tried. Including strippers that are more messy to clean up and you have to constantly chase the runs so it doesn't melt something else. I've tried the sanding, sanding, sanding.... (get the point?) to what eventually led to using the heat gun. The suggestion to use one came from a friend that assured me not to be such a chicken and that I wouldn't burn the boat down or melt the fiberglass. So I started using one on my previously owned NorSea 27 which has a lot of teak and most of it right up against fiberglass. It softens the varnish up to very small bubbles that can be easily scraped away. It works in the tightest corners that sandpaper could never get to. You just have to be careful that you don't mar the wood with the scraper. So to minimize that problem, I only use a 1 1/2" scraper. The heat gun won't cover an area any wider than that anyway and the less pressure you have to use, the less chance you have of gouging the wood. Like I said earlier, I used my heat gun that I bought at Ace Hardware to remove every bit of varnish from my NS27. So the advice I pass on is the same advice I got 3 years ago.... don't be a chicken. Joe -----Original Message----- From: montgomery_boats-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:montgomery_boats-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Tom Jenkins Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2008 3:21 PM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Subject: M_Boats: varnish removal Hello all, I have always used nasty chemical strippers to remove heavy accumulations of varnish, but I seem to recall someone in this group saying that heat guns will remove varnish. Elsewhere I have read that heat guns will remove paint, but will only soften varnish and make it gooey. Does anyone out there have personal experience that will solve this quasi-controversy? Thanks, as always, Tom Jenkins M17 Scintilla _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
To add just a little more information where it wasn't requested, I bought a handy little scraper that worked well for all the finish removal jobs on my M17. BAHCO makes it. The model I have is a 625 ergo. It has replaceable scraping blades (different shapes for different applications--the 1" triangular one worked great for me. You can reposition the blade so you have three total working edges.) It has a soft handle that's pretty comfortable, which makes it easy to exert just the right amount of pressure on the wood's surface. It was reasonably priced. Maybe 25 bucks? A well designed, useful tool. t
Tom, Where did you get it? Tom Smith wrote:
To add just a little more information where it wasn't requested, I bought a handy little scraper that worked well for all the finish removal jobs on my M17. BAHCO makes it. The model I have is a 625 ergo. It has replaceable scraping blades (different shapes for different applications--the 1" triangular one worked great for me. You can reposition the blade so you have three total working edges.)
It has a soft handle that's pretty comfortable, which makes it easy to exert just the right amount of pressure on the wood's surface.
It was reasonably priced. Maybe 25 bucks? A well designed, useful tool. t
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I bought it at a local Woodcraft store. I'd guess most online woodworking specialty stores carry them. Apparently it was formerly a Sandvik tool but BAHCO must have bought them. You can see on here: http://www.profhdwr.com/62500.htm t On Tue, Jul 15, 2008 at 9:47 PM, Robert Becker <bobjudy2@comcast.net> wrote:
Tom, Where did you get it?
Tom Smith wrote:
To add just a little more information where it wasn't requested, I bought a handy little scraper that worked well for all the finish removal jobs on my M17. BAHCO makes it. The model I have is a 625 ergo. It has replaceable scraping blades (different shapes for different applications--the 1" triangular one worked great for me. You can reposition the blade so you have three total working edges.)
It has a soft handle that's pretty comfortable, which makes it easy to exert just the right amount of pressure on the wood's surface.
It was reasonably priced. Maybe 25 bucks? A well designed, useful tool. t
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I know your message wasn't addressed to me, but the 625 is $14.69 at Amazon.com tools. Google "bahco" for other sources. Tom Jenkins -----Original Message----- From: montgomery_boats-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:montgomery_boats-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Robert Becker Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 9:48 PM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Subject: Re: M_Boats: varnish removal Tom, Where did you get it? Tom Smith wrote:
To add just a little more information where it wasn't requested, I bought a handy little scraper that worked well for all the finish removal jobs on my M17. BAHCO makes it. The model I have is a 625 ergo. It has replaceable scraping blades (different shapes for different applications--the 1" triangular one worked great for me. You can reposition the blade so you have three total working edges.)
It has a soft handle that's pretty comfortable, which makes it easy to exert just the right amount of pressure on the wood's surface.
It was reasonably priced. Maybe 25 bucks? A well designed, useful tool. t
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participants (4)
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Joe Murphy -
Robert Becker -
Tom Jenkins -
Tom Smith