"dadiOH" wrote in news:ma7be.3759$Nc.425@trnddc05:

A. Brown wrote:
Several years ago, my DH used marine spar varnish to coat the wooden
pillars and deck railing on our front porch. It's now peeling off the
wood.

I'd like to refinish it (with something else!), but am unsure of how
best to remove the existing varnish.

Suggestions please?

Scrape, then sand smooth. With a good, sharp scraper it goes pretty
fast. Guess you could use a paint remover but that is messy, still
have
to scrape off the softened gunk.

Spar varnish is soft, sands easily once dry. No reason to use it in
your application though, spar varnish is made for - surprise -
spars...masts, booms, like that. Being soft it is flexible so that the
it resists cracking from the bending of spars. Why people use it for
other than spars is beyond me.

Any top coat you use on the rail is will need to be renewed from time
to
time. The trick is to not let it get to the point it is now...sand
lightly and recoat *before* it starts deteriorating. If you want to
avoid that chore, use an oil finish...you will still have to reappy
occasionally but no sanding is needed.


--
dadiOH

Thanks, I'll try that. My plan was to get the old stuff off, and then use
whatever we end up using on our back deck, which will most likely be an
oil finish.