Awlwood

I’ve read most of the archives with Awlwood in the title and I’m interested in the latest impressions from those who’ve had it on their bright work for awhile. Until yesterday, I was planning on using Cetol, but we saw Awlwood on another Defever yesterday and were impressed by the appearance. (Varnish is not in our plans.)

—How difficult is it to apply to rails and moulding — must it be done professionally or can a semi-skilled owner get good results?
—How long between maintenance coats?
—How long can you expect to go without restripping?
—Assuming you have to go back to bare wood eventually, is that similar to stripping varnish?

Thanks in advance.

Following

I am in the process of replacing my varnish with awlwood. I have 1.5 years on the first section of Awlwood. It is certainly holding up better than varnish but I can’t yet speak to its longevity. Application is easier to screw up than varnish but it isn’t particularly difficult. The worst case is that the finished product peals off if you screwed it up.

What I have discovered it’s best to pull your tape after the primer coat and then apply fresh tape for the gloss coats. The gloss will stick to the primer on the tape, then when you pull the tape you end up pulling layers of gloss off your teak. With fresh tape the gloss has nothing to stick to making it much less likely to get damaged when pulling tape.

Once the teak is prepped I lay down a coat of primer. 24 hours later I sand the primer and re-tape. I time things so that I put my first coat of gloss down at 10am, second coat at 12pm and so on. This means at 8pm the same day I am putting down the 6th coat. By doing it every 2 hours I don’t have to sand between coats.

If you want mirror like perfection, you will need to sand between coats.

tiltrider1 said:

I am in the process of replacing my varnish with awlwood. I have 1.5 years on the first section of Awlwood. It is certainly holding up better than varnish but I can’t yet speak to its longevity. Application is easier to screw up than varnish but it isn’t particularly difficult. The worst case is that the finished product peals off if you screwed it up.

What I have discovered it’s best to pull your tape after the primer coat and then apply fresh tape for the gloss coats. The gloss will stick to the primer on the tape, then when you pull the tape you end up pulling layers of gloss off your teak. With fresh tape the gloss has nothing to stick to making it much less likely to get damaged when pulling tape.

Once the teak is prepped I lay down a coat of primer. 24 hours later I sand the primer and re-tape. I time things so that I put my first coat of gloss down at 10am, second coat at 12pm and so on. This means at 8pm the same day I am putting down the 6th coat. By doing it every 2 hours I don’t have to sand between coats.

If you want mirror like perfection, you will need to sand between coats.

Click to expand...

Great tips! Thank you.

We had our caprail done with Awl Wood process last year. It still looks fabulous. The effort, done by pros, involved stripping to bare wood, hardware removed, new caulking and the AW process followed per the book. As always, the prep work was the hardest part. Also, the job benefitted by doing it under cover so rain, sun and dew were held at bay.

By far, the best bright work process and product we've seen. But time, skill and patience are required for it to be done right.

We had our caprail done with Allwood at the Grand Banks Yard in Stuart FL. Just passing along a tip they gave me: Once the job is 6-months old begin waxing it every so often with a good quality carnuba automobile wax. Not a cleaner wax. I use Megquires pure carnuba wax. The finish looks fantastic.

I’m on 4 years and still looks OK. But it’s not like it was. Next year i’m due.

I've had very good luck with Petit Flagship Varnish - huge level of UV protection in the Flagship varnish. But my only exterior teak is handrails, so I'm ok with varnish upkeep there.

Arc said:

I’m on 4 years and still looks OK. But it’s not like it was. Next year i’m due.

Click to expand...

Due for what? Strip and refinish or a couple of additional coats?

I have followed all of the Awlwood, Cetol, varnish postings over the past two years. The bottom line is that they all seem have a finite life whereupon a difficult and time-consuming job has to be done again. We stripped our railings and cap rail two years ago and have been vacillating on which route to take, The wood is grey and waiting but we have made a decision. PAINT! Looks good and lasts a lot longer with no six-month/one-year intervening applications, waxing, etc. I just finished painting my boat deck, flybridge deck, lower deck, and deckhouse with Pettit EZ Poxy, roll and tip method. The result was outstanding, no roll or brush marks anywhere, SMOOTH.

At $70 a quart it should come with dinner & movie, too many other choices I use
Epifanes


half the cost

Cigatoo said:

Due for what? Strip and refinish or a couple of additional coats?

Click to expand...

There a are couple of joints that discolored due to water entering the end grain. It is also dull compared to when it was new. I an going to try to just strip and repair the joints the put on a few new coats. If that fails then it a full job

I am almost on year 4 in full Gulf Coast sun.

Anywhere it is protected I am sure it could go ten years or more.
My boat is a Europa, so some of the boat is pretty shaded.

Awlwood is a process. I stripped the entire boat to bare wood, used yellow primer, and built up teak rails to four coats, sanding between each coat. Not because it needed it, but it is water clear, the color is the primer. Makes it very hard to see where you have been when adding coats. Awlwood wants six plus coats.

I have also sprayed it with incredible results.

Just did the interior teak on my doors and windows trim using their satin final coat and 50/50 yellow/clear primer thinned 10-15%. Just about four coats since it is inside.

Almost a direct match to the interior color and gloss.

Awlwood is very hard, almost like Imron, which is used for planes and buses. It can be buffed out, but it takes time. Much easier to just sand it and get a perfect finish. We step on the teak rails because it is so hard it does not scratch.

Go to my blog, "grandbankschoices". Dig down and you will see pictures of the process and colors.

Awlwood recommends a maintenance coat each year, so I am going to add three coats in a few weeks. It has lifted in a four spots about the size of a dime. Will advise how it blends in on repairs, but I expect no issues.

I don't retape, but take a razor blade and gently cut the tape line. If you pull the tape you can lift the finish, it is that strong. The finish is closer to an incapsulation than paint.

Hell yes, I am a fan. People walk down the dock and stop to look at that finish.

On year three. Awlwood shrinks as it dries and pulls out brush marks. No need to sand in between all coats. I sand primer, first, fifth and seventh with 220. The 8th is the final coat. Every other year a light sand and two coats. Looks like new. Not going back to varnish I hope.