The brightwork on tanqueray is need of some work. My brother Bill has convinced me that there is no need to take all the old varnish off. He claims I can do just fine by touching up the problem areas. That sure sounds a lot more appealing than a much larger job.
So, I have elected to start with the propane tank cover. I was able to remove it and take it home to work on. Since I have it at home and it's a small managable piece, I chose to remove all the old varnsh - something I don't plan on doing anywhere else.
Here are some pictures of the cover as the work progressed. I started by purchasing a heat gun and a scrapper. These seemed to be much easier than sanding off all the old varnish.
After all the varnish was removed with the heat gun and scrapper, I sanded the entire piece with 100 sandpaper, followed by another sanding with 220.
After the sanding was completed, I wiped the cover down with a Acetone soaked cloth. After it was clean and dust free, I brought it into the basement for a first coat of varnish. This first coat was 50% distilled with mineral spirits.
