Removing Varnish from Interior Woodwork

It doesn't really matter whether you remove varnish with a chemical stripper or by sanding it off, either way it is an absolute pig of a job. At one point I am pretty certain John and I were both weighing up whether we could indeed live with the orange wood that seems to plague boats of this size. In the end we both decided, stripping the varnish would be easier than having to tolerate an 80's nightmare... although to be fair, it is not only boats from the 80's that seem to perpetuate this same kitsch style. It is as though boat decor is stuck in a decade from which, no one has escaped. *Shudder*

We used a combination of sanding and applying a chemical stripper. The chemical stripper we used is called Langlow Paint Remover. I have to say, it works jolly well. 

Make certain you wear thick rubber gloves, a mask and safety glasses. Initially I tried using thin Nitrile gloves but I could actually feel my skin starting to tingle and burn through the gloves. Not a great sensation!

As you can see from the next photo, the stripper has been painted onto the surface and the varnish is literally starting to bubble up:

Don't be deceived by the second photo, it is not as easy as it looks scraping it off. I think each bit of wood probably took about 4 or 5 layers of the chemical stripper and continuous scraping.

Some of the bits of wood were easier to sand... relatively speaking of course.... due to factors like the shape of the wood or because they were not too heavily varnished. As far as sanding goes, well what more can I say but make certain you have loads of different paper grades, a sanding mouse and patience.