Removing Hand Railing Varnish

[StratPlan61]

It's past time to remove the old finish from my railings. I inherited this embarassing mess from the previous owner and my pride has dragged me to the task-at-hand. Who can direct me to a product which will remove the weathered varnish (some bare wood showing) without disturbing the paint or other adverse impacts. I was hoping to find a brush-on product so I could mask-off the adjacent paint and maybe scrap the old finish away. I suspect some finish sanding will be required but I am trying to find a method less intrusive to my marina neighbors than just plain sanding.

Bear'
1984 61' MY Strategic Plan

[SKYCHENEY]

Bear,
I removed my bow rails this winter and refinished them in the garage. I don't think you will find a stripper that will remove the varnish, but not disturb the Imron. I have used that Orange stripper from Home Depot, but found it to be less effective than the good old Zip-Strip. If you don't want to remove the rails then I would think sanding would be the best. Try to find a sander with the dust recovery setup. That should help some.

[trogers]

Sadly I think that I have too much experience with varnishing. My previous boat was a classic trawler with teak everywhere.

In the course of caring from my previous boats hand rails, cap rails, doors, window frames, hatches, etc. I came to the unleasant conclusion that there is no substitue for an amazing amounts of effort.

I used varnish strippers in the past and ended up having to redo portions of my awl-grip. Hence no more strippers were allowed on the boat (the other kind was NEVER allowed either ). I was given some bad advice once about using a brass brush. Since teak has streaks of "softer" wood, those soft steaks get lifted out and you never can get that smooth finish after, or not without sanding your teak away. Hence no more brass brushes.

I use a orbital sander with 60 or 100 grit to get the old varnish down and then use successively 150, 200 and 320 on my 1/4 sheet pad sander to get it down to smooth. The goal is to get rid of the old varnish, not the teak. I like to use teak cleaner and brightener to act as a process check to see if I missed any spots of varnish as they show up as "splotches" when the rest of the raw wood is wet with the cleaner and brighter. If you miss these and start laying varnish they show up as a yellow patch and, I think, spoil the look.

Tack cloth the heck out of it and start laying varnish.

I always start with a coat of 50-50, 50% varnish and 50% varnish thinner to act as a sealer coat for the raw teak. After that, 5-10 coats of 95-100% varnish, my personal preference is Epifanes. I use 320 grit between my coats with very liberal use of the tack cloth to get the wood as clean as possible prior to the next coat.

I'm doing my wing doors right now as they were a bit rough when I bough fun@sea.calm. On my wing doors I have an interesting configuration of screen door, that opens out along the companion ways and a solid door with the typical glass window that opens into the aft deck area. I haven't started my screen doors yet which I'm expecting them to be a bit trickier as I cannot get a sander anywhere near the screen / mesh without ripping it.

Still my 56 has only a fraction of the teak that my 44 trawler had. I'm happy to only spend only a fraction of the time caring for the teak that I used to have invest in my old boat.

[Keith]

I recently became a Hatteras owner. Prior was a sailor owning a 43' Hans Christian for 13 years. The Hans has miles of varnished teak on the exterior. The method I used was the heat gun and scraper method. Get a cheap, wooden handled scraper, keep it sharp by filing, use the heat gun and heat up the old varnish, scrap the old varnish off as soon as it begins to bubble. This method removes multiple layers without needing to worry about chemicals dripping on your paint. Just be carefull you don't burn the adjacent paint with the heat gun. Get a large paint scrapper and use it as a mask to reflect the heat back from a painted surface. Usually, the teak just needs mild sanding after it has been scrapped.

[CapetaniosG]

I agree with Keith. When I bought my 53 MY in England several years ago the two side sliding doors were painted white with some kind of a two part paint. What a shame! I asked the seller who painted the teak doors white and he said if you don't like them get a heat gun and a scraper and remove the paint. I took his advice and removed the paint that way. The heatgun is electric and you must keep the gun moving otherwise, you can burn the wood. It is fairly fast and effective. The seller doesn't know it but he paid for it at the closing several times what it cost me.

I tried the same on my teak railing and the varnish comes right off with a little scraping. The scraper is triagular in shape attached to a handle. I works well. As a recall it took me about 10 to 12 hours to remove the varnish from the railing. Try it. You may like it.

CapetaniosG

1975 53 Hatt MY

[bobk]

OK, now that you have the rails clean, what are you going to put back on? I have yet to hear of a modern miracle finish that is easier to maintain than good old Semco. It's not bright, but it does look like wood. And on teak, one coat once of twice a year does it. It has been on my trawler since 1986, and takes no more effort than I described. Just rinse the dirt off the existing coat, and flow on a new one. It won't protect mahogony, but on teak it's great.

Don't beat up on me untill you have seen my boat.

Bob

[StratPlan61]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I was going to remove my railings but from the pilothouse aft the 'half railings' are mere wood trim and permanently affixed to the sides of the deckhouse (darnit!). It is these long trim/railing pieces which challenge me the most because of the Imron paint above and below. I have had decent luck with sanding the open railings - but these darn trim pieces look like a 'toughy'. Appreciate the tips - any and all are very much appreciated!

Bear'
1984 61' MY Strategic Plan

[SeaEric]

Ditto on the heat gun. Thats the best way.

[NotToWorry]

Heat gun is the way to go..with scraper tool

[Maynard Rupp]

We used "Bristol Finish" instead of varnish. 4 coats in sucession with no sanding , then sand with 320, one more coat. Depth is as good as 10 coats of varnish, beautiful amber color. It still looks great after 2 years. They claim 18 years except in places like Florida. Seven years in Florida and the tropics.
http://www.bristolfinish.com/