Stripping 1911 OTC Varnish

Don Sable

Curious about Wooden Canoes
While stripping the varnish on my 1911 OT OTCA CS I have run into some "black" crud that looks like Tar. It is resistant to the stripper that I am using. Anyone have any ideas on how to remove it. Thanks, Don
 
Scrape away as much as you can without damaging planking or stem wood.
It might help to soften it up a bit with heat eg paint stripper gun.
Then wipe off the remainder with a solvent. Gasoline works fine -but take the usual safety precautions.
 
RE: black crud?

Last evening I was cleaning up the gunwale caps from a 1924 Old Town 18' using an orbital sander with 120 grit. The top coat was thick, bright red paint, which came off fast, but underneath was thick black crud that looked exactly like that described in the first post. It does come off by sanding, but takes time, and fills a lot of sandpaper. Instead of flaking off, it's gummy, like asphalt. I did some scraping first, with the edge of a hacksaw blade, and finished the job with 120 grit sandpaper. There doesn't seem to be any penetration or staining underneath the black crud. But what is it and why is it there? Tom McCloud
 
I thought that I once heard that a tar/turpentine mix was used in boat building for waterproofing.

I've seen tar used as a patch on many canoes. The latest one is a patch using "liquid nails", but never on the inside or wales.
 
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