Spar Varnish

[campbellcraft]

A friend has a newly applied spar varnish finish over a teak deck (boat).  He has had trouble with a random orbit sander paper gumming up.  I thought I might be able to help him with my ro125, but the question is with what paper..

Thanks for any help. 

 

[Brice Burrell]

A friend has a newly applied spar varnish finish over a teak deck (boat).  He has had trouble with a random orbit sander paper gumming up.  I thought I might be able to help him with my ro125, but the question is with what paper..

Thanks for any help. 

I'd try 60 or 80 grit Brilliant 2 and keep the sander move to help prevent heat buildup.

 

[campbellcraft]

Thanks Brice, next question.  What paper to go to for the finer finish.  I have the Brilliant so I will give that a try this weekend.

 

[Brice Burrell]

Thanks Brice, next question.  What paper to go to for the finer finish.  I have the Brilliant so I will give that a try this weekend.

My apologizes, I assumed it you were having a gumming problem you were looking to remove finish. Are you're sanding between coats of finish? I'd use the Brilliant for sanding spar varnish but it's not fully cured is likely why it's gumming up the paper.     

 

[monstrol]

In my experience spar varnish won't harden like other varnishes as it is meant to "move" with the seasons so it won't powder up like interior varnishes.  You might try wet sanding it with festool platin paper.  Just a thought. As long as your not standing in the water and using a GFCI outlet you won't get fried.
Matthew Jones

 

[tDot]

I recently had to strip a few window frames after a client changed her mind on the color of the spar varnish that was applied.  We used Saphir, it was much more resistant to the paper gumming up then the Brilliant.  We also found that by not removing all of the Spar Varnish in one step that we almost eliminated the paper gumming.  We started with Saphir 80 then 120 on the RO150, set on the rotary mode, this removed 95% of the spar varnish, then a quick hit with the ETS 150/3 and Brilliant150 or 180 finished it up.