A bit of progress. Removed old varnish with heat gun and followed up to remove any residue with Jabsco stripper. Bleached with oxylic acid from Ace Hdwr. Sanded with 40/60/80. Last pic is Interlux InterStain - brown mahogany. Will follow that in a couple days with Interlux InterPrime Clear Sealer and then Epifanes Clear gloss varnish. Tedious work, but looking forward to outcome.
Bleached. Left is sanded to 80. 40 grit to get some of the black streaks out.
Cool pic! In the bottom right corner, you can see the diagonal seam repair I made 10 years ago with epoxy thickened with mahagany sanding dust. Still holding up and still dark brown - didn't know if it would bleach out somehow.
All bleached and sanded
InterStain. 80grit recommended final pass so that the product has adequate tooth to hold on to. "Thick housepaint" consistency that is rubbed across the grain and as much rubbed off in that way as will lift for final appearance. Process of rubbing/removal is pretty quickly underway after application. If you let it flash/dry, it is really difficult to rub down adequately. I used the same process/staining on my companionway brightwork a couple years ago and it looks great.
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