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I have a nice rifle. All matching, original finish yadda yadda yadda. Someone a while back put a clear coat of varnish or sealer something over the stock and the metal parts too. I was thinking of just sealing the whole rifle in epoxy and making a killer paper weight But seriously...What do you use to remove varnish or clear coat. I'm thinking whatever chemical or process I use should do a good job on the metal parts. But what about the stock...Whatever I use will screw the original finish right? Any suggestions? I'm thinking just clean the metal parts with something and leave the stock as is. Thoughts, comments would be appreciated.

Thanks
Dan

 

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Here is a pic of whats going on. You can see the wood under the coat of clear. The clear was done pretty bad as you can see. You can also see some of the clear on the metal. It's actually all over the metal on other parts. But the orginal finish is actually pretty nice....just need to get the clear off. Inspection stamps are crisp and "clear"

Dan

 

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I'm still here
So today I tried water and a little soap. Like Fred said, "it may be water soluble"....It is not water soluble. Next up was mineral spirits...per Rockhills request. Mineral spirits did absolutely nothing. That's it for my cleaning today. I'll try a few more things later. I sure hope it's not poly. I'll let you know how it continues.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
Dan

 

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The tape didn't work. It's actually not flaking off. It was just applied very bad. It's on like super clue BUT....I decided to to start cleaning the bolt. The handle had some of this stuff on it. I was just going to clean the dirt and years of grime off. I sprayed it with my "hopps elite" gun cleaner metal conditioner. As soon as I sprayed it on the "varnish" bubbled up and ran off. I didn't even have to scrub it. SWEET. The bolt cleaned up real nice and there is no sign of the "varnish" ever having been on the handle. Next is to try the stock. I'll keep you posted...after my trip

Dan