Recommend me a varnish stripper

[WelshShooter]

Looking back in hindsight at the pictures I took, maybe take the suggestion of the others and use something other than nitromors. The pictures below show:

1 - Before nitromors
2 - During nitromors
3 - After nitromors
4 - After nitromors
5 - After nitromors & razer blade
6 - After nitromors, razer blade and 600 grit silicone sanding
7 - Before nitromors stripping. Notice that the finish shows "dents" which is basically the wood topography. Quite shiny and feels "sticky" if that makes sense.
8 - After stripping, sanding and refinishing with oil. No more "dents" and wood stock has matt finish as opposed to shiny finish.

The patches in pictures 3 and 4 are bare wood but the time it took to do this I couldn't be bothered to use multiple coats to fully remove the finish, so I used a razer blade to carefully remove the rest. Picture 6 shows the bare wood where I removed all the finish and sanded the wood using 600 grit silicone paper. I had also soaked the wood in water and dried to to elevate the whiskers. The picture was taken shortly after the wood had dried.

The remaining pictures show a before and after the whole finishing procedure. I'm still finishing off the stock so when it's done I'll make a dedicated thread for this.

TL;DR nitromors works OK if you have the patience to use it along with the additional work of using a scalpel to remove the remaining parts. Apparently it's nowhere near as strong as it used to be (perhaps EU directives have prevented the use of the harsh chemicals?). There will be negligible on the final finish if you do decide to go this route.

[ovenpaa]

Good pictures WS.

My normal approach is a very light sanding with 400 grit to break the glaze and then into the dishwasher, remove the moment the cycle is finished and dab it dry with tissues. Wait 24 hours and sand the high points, this has the advantage of removing the finish and the dents all in one go and I have not experienced any warpage with any stock I have used this method with.

Downside is no Dishwasher here however I could always get one for the workshop or see if I can persuade my Mother to let me use hers :)

Failing that it will be down the stripper path.

[WelshShooter]

Good pictures WS.

My normal approach is a very light sanding with 400 grit to break the glaze and then into the dishwasher, remove the moment the cycle is finished and dab it dry with tissues. Wait 24 hours and sand the high points, this has the advantage of removing the finish and the dents all in one go and I have not experienced any warpage with any stock I have used this method with.

Downside is no Dishwasher here however I could always get one for the workshop or see if I can persuade my Mother to let me use hers :)

Failing that it will be down the stripper path.

I know you didn't mention it, but some advice in hindsight too. Try and avoid using steel wool if possible because if you look very carefully at my stock you can pick out some shiny specs where the steel wool debris has embedded into the pits (not from the pictures, but in real life). A bit annoying when you put hours into doing a nice finish.

PS - I did something quite similar to you, but used 600 grit and I just hosed down the stock rather than using hot water. Sounds like using hot water would be better because at least it would evaporate quicker...

[Dark Skies]

Not to be controversial but Diall is weaker than the useless modern Nitromors. Bought some to strip some bike parts recently and all it did was make a mess. Chucked it and bought some of this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Starchem-Pain ... SwzgRWt7F0

Fantastic stuff!

[Rab]

Ovenpaa, you could try using some C2R Seriously mate, my gun cleaning table is our old heavy dining table and C2R had no problem stripping that when I knocked over the bottle.

Before C2R

After C2R

[ovenpaa]

Yes C2R is rather good at stripping varnish off wood if left for any period of time, downside is it is rather an expensive was to do the job.

[CDM5]

The current Nitromors isn't a patch on the older brand, it must have been weakened to make it safer to use.
I have had great results with the "No nonsense" paint stripper from Screwfix. It's also cheap and readily available.

I recently did 2 stocks with the "No Nonsense", worked a treat on an old Italian SxS but wasn't as effective on the finish on a Lanber O/U.

[Polchraine]

I recently did 2 stocks with the "No Nonsense", worked a treat on an old Italian SxS but wasn't as effective on the finish on a Lanber O/U.

Different "varnishes" or finished need different removers. For example, I use Lacacote on some of my woodworking and once waxed looks like a varnish- that can be stripped with meths!

[Les]

Not to be controversial but Diall is weaker than the useless modern Nitromors.

Diall has stipped several stocks for me with absolutely no problem at all. I think the paint finish on bikes is totally different to varnish on stocks.

[greenshoots]

b and q do a enviromently friendly and nice smelling varnish stripper which has the benifit of being able to be used in confined spaces, only downside is its slightly espensive at aroun £7 a tub

greenshoots