wood trim maintenance.

Pack Mule said:

FlyWright I have read about it and my old school ways wouldn't step aside and let me try this . I haven't bought all my varnish just yet .I 've only really bought enough to get started . I have to spread the varnish bill out a little bit you know. My dad was a painter all his life and all he ever let me do was move drop cloths around and watch . I remember one time we were at the paint store ,they didn't have what he really wanted but they had something else . He asked the guy if he could come around the counter and smell the finish that he had . The guy looked at him like he was crazy but let him smell it .Dad said nope and we went somewhere else .I thought he was crazy to but he knew what he was talking about . Dad forgive me but I might try this stuff .Three coats in one day sounds goooood. Thanks for the info FlyWright .

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When I use the varnish, I don't sand it, but I scuff it up with a green Scotchbrite pad to prepare it for the next coat, then give it a light wipe with a slightly damp cloth. It's a trick I learned from an old-timer at the dock. Saves some work in sanding and cleaning.

I bet your Dad didn't use the exact same stuff your Grandad used. No need to be held to yesterday's products exclusively (although it's still great varnish!). You could always try it on a test piece first to see if you like it. The Epifane's website even mentions being able to use the varnish for the last couple of coats. I didn't try that, but like the idea that I can varnish over it if I need or want to.

Incidentally, I found out the other day that this stuff is pretty tough. I came into the slip with a bit of a crosswind and the fwd cap rail made 'firm' contact with the white rubber bumper on the post for my covered slip. I pivoted on that post contact until I was properly aligned and slid forward into the slip. There was a slight film of white rubber on the caprail, but not a speck of damage. Gotta love it!!

Hey Al,
We are on the fourth coat now on the doors . My wife does the varnish during the day and I sand it the next day after work and so on,so on and so on.This is our first time with Epifanes and so far we both really like it .The big work won't start until we start varnishing the new cap rail .Should be ready for that in about a week. Nice to know this is some tough varnish. I tried cetol and semco both before and wasn't happy with either .Semco really is just a sealer .After all this work I'm pretty sure I'm going to stay under cover .
By the way I saw your pic in another post .You are as spiffy as your varnish.

If you were looking at Mark's photo, it was probably trick photography!!

You might see in that photo that I keep my varnished rail 'spiffy' by keeping it covered with fire hose while fishing or at the slip. When we cruise, we unveil it for all to enjoy. I've found that fishing weights can cause a lot of wear on the top rail. The fire hose covers help immensely.

If you were looking at Mark's photo, it was probably trick photography!!

You might see in that photo that I keep my varnished rail 'spiffy' by keeping it covered with fire hose while fishing or at the slip. When we cruise, we unveil it for all to enjoy. I've found that fishing weights can cause a lot of wear on the top rail. The fire hose covers help immensely.

No I was talking about the one in the off topic forum .

Oh crap!! Not that one. That's just dwhatty making fun of my pink hat.











TBH, David very kindly sent me that "breton red" hat a couple of years ago as a Christmas gift after I gave him crap for wearing one like it and referring to it as his wife's hat. That ribbing set off a 'pink war' that resulted in the posting of a picture of my boat with a pink paint job and David's pink bunny slippers.

Who says we don't now how to have fun on TF?

Greetings,

Bubbles!

There is nothing worse than coating woodwork with epoxy, thinking that you are both reducing work in the initial stage and making your work last longer. Don't do it. You will hate yourself in the morning, so to speak when you sober up and need to take your finishes off.

Some rules for a perfect varnish:
1. Be patient
2. The quality of the varnish may be regardless. A low cost one component everyday varnish can give the most mirror-like finish.
3. The first coat diluted @ 50%, the second @25%, from the third on, no more mixes.
4. Sanding between coats is paramount. Yet, it is important to decrease the sandpaper grain between coats. Depending on what you want, it may end up on grain 4000. I did. (see picture below)
5. Above all, do not varnish in temperatures below 72F. prefer summer days between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm. Yet, do not varnish directly under the sunlight.
6 Be Patient and work small areas at a time, from begin to end. Do not do this in large areas.
7 Because this is a very spiritual job, done preferably in a hot day, it is paramount to have a cooler with very cold beers ready to go.
8 Including the family in the process, always helps to consolidate the family ties.

By the way, FF is absolutely correct on this issue. As always!

Nice finish Portuguese . Just yesterday my wife put on the fourth coat of Epifanes . We are doing this in our carport. Late yesterday our neighbors started getting all their lawn equipment out like they were going to get serious about cleaning up their yard like mowers and blowers oh sh**.This morning before work I hung up canvas drop cloths around the carport .My house neighbors think we are as crazy as our boat neighbors,but I'm sure they have never paid $30.00 quart for varnish or done the work it takes for the varnish to turn out decent .

Well, I'm beavering away (a beaver swam by the boat the other day) stripping the old finish on the teaks in the cockpit. I'm using a heat gun. It's a slow process, for sure. However, I picked up a couple of high quality card scrapers, made buy Veritas. These are stainless steel. After the initial removal, I use them to finish the stripped teak. They do a wonderful job. At $10 for a pair, the do a wonderful job.

Jim, Sent from my iPad using Trawler

Epifanes doing its thang. We had a blowing ran that got in under cover . This is 5 coats .

Looks like it dried before the rain.

I had that happen one time on my aft caprail. I had completed a couple of coats and was letting the day's work dry overnight. That night, I wanted to watch something on a channel with poor reception, so I edged the boat out of its covered slip 8 ft to improve the reception and enjoyed the show. Of course, it then started to rain without me noticing.

The next morning started off with lots of sanding and kicking myself in the backside!

JDCAVE said:

So I quickly skimmed through these posts and want to know if people are simply sanding off the old finish or are using furniture stripper followed by a quick sand. I've got to do my hand and cap rails this year. Missed doing it last year, boat being new to me and all and all the other projects. I bought a gallon of stripping product (unopened) last year and it says not to use it on fiberglass, so I assume I've got to be careful with it around the boat. Thoughts?

Jim, Sent from my iPad using Trawler

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May not need stripper.
Chris is in charge of most of the finishing. I got some information off the internet as I was worried our black teak may not bounce back. All this talk about how nasty the removers are and knowing heating, scraping and sanding are so much fun I was hoping there would be a better route. There's all kinds of bad stuff in a can to fix lots of problems but most are not a good idea.

The internet says vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and baking soda will fix "stained" teak. So while I worked on blisters and engine room and other stuff Chris went after the rails. She did it. Took a lot of scrubbing and scraping w a dull metal (looks like chrome) scraper.

1st pic is of before and after. As you can see the teak is well along to receiving varnish and looking good as ever .. after the varnish.

I definitely would not use the liquid stripper. I have sanded it down before, but only due to the fact that the grain in the teak was uneven from years of no varnishing and probably due to washing the bare teak with a course brush.

I would recommen you to use a heat gun and get a very good scraper that you can sharpen the blade on, or replace. Heat the old varnish and it will bubble up, then you scrape it right off. It sounds labor intensive, but it really goes pretty fast when you get the hang of it.

Following removal of the old varnish, I use a light sandpaper (220 grit or so) over it all, afterwards, wipe it all down with turpentine or mineral spirits which gets all the dust and preps the teak for the all important 1st coat. I use Epifanes and I thinned the 1st coat 50%, wait 24 hrs lightly sand with wet or dry 400 grit and put second coat on, thinned 25%. 3rd thru 7th coat is unthinned but again, I always lightly sand between coats with 400 grit wet or dry (i use it wet...seems to do better).

**I have not used the vinegar, hydrogen peroxide method alluded to above...my opposition referance was to the commerical in the can paint strippers.**

before and after

Rooster...what product are you using?

Aquabelle said:

Rooster...what product are you using?

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I use Epifanes Gloss Varnish.

Le Tonkinoise. Experiment with the Original and the number one version. Linseed oil and tung oil. That's it.

Xsbank said:

Le Tonkinoise. Experiment with the Original and the number one version. Linseed oil and tung oil. That's it.

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Thanks...but I understand that that is the old way of doing it...but I am thinking I will use a tryed and true formula which I have received great results from, maybe because it has the UV protection that I need in this climate.