Stripping varnish

[boezie]

I recently acquired a Heddon #17 that I want to refinish. I have read up a lot about refinishing, etc. and it seems like the best product to use to strip the rod is 3M Safest Stripper. The problem is, I can;t find it anywhere? Can anyone please suggest a good alternative or tell me where I can get hold of it?

Thanks in advance!

[joesce]

I've refinished about a dozen rods using paint & varnish remover purcased at Lowe's. Probably not the best but it's worked okay for me.
Joe

[Robert Hicks]

The problem with using ANY chem to strip a rod is that you can never know what it will do to the glue that was used to hold the rod together. The best and safest way to strip a rod is to us a razor blade and scrape the old varnish off.

[kayakerguy]

The problem with using ANY chem to strip a rod is that you can never know what it will do to the glue that was used to hold the rod together. The best and safest way to strip a rod is to us a razor blade and scrape the old varnish off.
I agree, This is how I've been doing it too. I've found that the razor blades like the ones used in window/paint scrapers work well. And oddly enough, a duller razor blade works best. Not too dull, but not a new one either.
Just make sure the edge of the blade is perpindicular to the rod so that the blade can't bite into the rod.
Mark

[fishnpreacher]

I've used a product called "CitriStrip" (sp), and have not had any problems. Its messy and takes about the same amount of time to get down to the bare wood as it would scraping, plus you will still end up doing some scraping.
I just prepped a Tonka Queen butt section yesterday to refinish and scraping the old varnish took about 30 minutes.
Be careful to only scrape the flats, not the corners, leaving the sharp corners as much as possible. After scraping, I buff lightly with 0000 steel wool before finishing.
Good luck and have fun!

[boezie]

Thanks for the info, guys. I guess it's scraping then... However, I have heard from a number of experience finishers that the best way to preserve the writing on the rod is to use denatured alcohol on a cotton bud and to roll it over the writing. Anyone had any experience with this? Any tips will be appreciated - as you can tell, I'm new to this :o :o :o

[joesce]

Well, it's reassuring to learn I've done something right. I gave up ther stripper after the fist couple rods and went solely to razor blades. Made my fist grip today on an older Rapidan. Kinda fun. Can't wait to make y'alls acquaintance as I have lots of questions on refinishing and would like to get opinions on my work to date. Thanks,
Joe