Cockpit table - Varnish?

[Strathglass]

I will be trying sikkens Cetol HLS which is a exterior satin basecoat and stain. I have been using it on things like external wood handrails in the garden with outstanding results.

All the external 'teak' on the yacht I have been building is actually iroko. Teak itself is virtually impossible to find in the north of Scotland.
It is also not so much the sun as the other weather we get that causes the problems.
The snow line which was at 1000ft last week is now receeding and it is now a lovely sunny day although I had to scrape the ice from the windscreen this morning.

Iain

 

[ccscott49]

I don't like these woodstain products, but horses for courses, if it works for you, fine. Although I admit I haven't seen this sikkens product, but anything that stains the wood? Teak, is available in Glasgow, but maybe not much further north than that unless ordering. But for a cockpit table, which is not going to spend as long in the sun as they think, I still think some kind of varnish is the way to go. IMHO

 

[Strathglass]

Yes, Colin you are probably right I certainly have epoxied then varnished my saloon table. It also fits the cockpit and may on infrequent occasions be used outside.
I am more intending to use the sikkens on a coachroof mounted handrail and winch pads which will get a fair bit of wear.
By the way who in Glasgow stocks teak? it is certainly more pleasant to work with than iroko. I still have a couple of gratings to make.
The current task in hand is modifying a trailor to enable me to transport the mast (48 ft) from Essex to here.

 

[ccscott49]

I'll get back to you on the Glasgow supplier, as soon as I can contact my friend in Gourock. He's the coastguard manager, owns a wooden boat.

 

[vyv_cox]

Deks Olje

Glad to read that this stuff works well, as we bought two tins of saturator and one of gloss yesterday. After years of revarnishing our toe-rails and hand rails several times per year we have decided to try something different.

 

[ean_p]

Interior woodwork??

I know its not a cockpit table but whats the best method of getting a nice mellow glow on interior woodwork...specificly new english oak, don't want a gloss at all and it needs to be tack free and fairly easy to achieve and maintain.....any idea's?????

 

[chippie]

Re: Interior woodwork??

For interior work I have used a satin polyurethane starting with well thinned coats, and when finished, gently polishing with a furniture polish. It gives a nice lustre that doesnt look like it is on top of the wood.

 

[vyv_cox]

Re: Interior woodwork??

Yes, we like the new satin finishes. They look much nicer than high gloss IMHO. Some of the older ones were very difficult to apply to vertical surfaces, being extremely viscous, but the later generations seem better in this respect. Mostly they seem to need normal gloss undercoats, applied as instructed in the International booklets, followed by a top coat of the satin. Worked well on our companionway steps and galley woodwork.

The only high gloss finish on our boat is the table, done in two-pack epoxy. A very tedious job, and we never succeeded in eliminating all the dust that settles as it is drying. However, it does resist the knocks, stains and high temperatures of a well-used table.

 

[Spacewaist]

Re: Interior woodwork??

Apply wax with wire wool - work with the grain. Can give excellent results on mahogany and pine. Wouldnt have thought about using it on an open grained wood like oak though.

We're through the worst of it now....Gybe Ohhhhh..!

 

[Spacewaist]

Re: Interior woodwork??

Just built a new house in Oak. Green oak frame and english oak windows stairs floors etc, so consider myself knowledgable on this subject.

New english oak is quite light. If you varnish (seal) new oak it will retain its current colour. Oak is also an open grained wood which is difficult to get a mirror smooth finish - I am glad you dont want a gloss finish!.

Left unsealed, it will darken with age, but not down to the rich finish you see on old oak furniture. That is more a result of the treatment applied etc.

Do you know how the tree was sawn? Quarter sawn oak is highly figured. If you have a lot of figuring and want to draw it out (highlight it) you need something that will soak into the wood rather than sit on top of it.

Combined with the fact you dont want a gloss finish, then these factors all point to an oiled or wax finish. If it is on a boat, I presume also that you want it to be water resistant. We have used Danish Oil on all surfaces that are expected to take water. Properly applied (several coats - thinned at first) this is water resistant. We have used it in the bathroom and on window sills etc. I used Beeswax on windows and bannisters others.

There were alternaitves reccomended (the Sikkens and Oswax finishes most often) but they tend to colour the wood (Oswax in particular). But Oswax is extrerior quality and water proof.

On the shelf behind the basins sinks, I have removed the oil and used a matt polyurethane varnish and then several coats of beeswax applied with wire wool with the grain. I wouldnt recommend it on large areas since it produces a plasticy looking un-even finish unless you have the kit to sand the oak really smooth. This can be impossible with some trees beacuse the grain is so open - particulalry over large areas.

So where does that leave you.

Any oiled or wax finish on unsealed wood needs maintenance with a new coat or two - twice a year. It will also mark if you put a hot mug on it. It will gradually darken to a rich honey or darker colour. Some oils are water resistant, but not water proof (Danish Oil). Some are water proof, but colour the wood.

A varish seals the wood, (so maintains the current colour), and is maintenance free, but you'll not get a polished gloss surface without a great deal of effort (in sanding wood or dozens of coats of polyurethane) and luck in the selection of th right plank.

An alternative would be to stain the wood to whatever takes your fancy, apply a matt varnish and then polish it. This gets you a mintenance free surface of your choice of colour - but with a slightly plasticy finish.

We're through the worst of it now....Gybe Ohhhhh..!

 

[ean_p]

Re: Interior woodwork??

thanks for the replys....think that we will have to experiment a little before we fit it all....its a clading that will go over the coach roof and main cabin deckhead as well as down the sides between some bookcase's etc....so it needs to be warm,mellow and easy.....the satin sounds good as does the oil/wax especially with a gradual deepening of the present colour which is quite light....the timber is mixed been both slash and quarter sawn so has some very nice flecks and will warrent a little care and patience I think.....thanks again...

 

[vkjohn]

18 mths ago I sanded my timber wheel and my cockpit table. I cleaned them right down to bare timber. I used an oil based stain to get the right colour back and left it to dry for abot 2 days. Now this is the amazing part, I then varnished them with an exterior WATER BASED varnish called DWD. It was an experiment that worked and worked well. 18 mths later, no signs of deterioration.Spured on by the success of this project, I decided to varnish, using the same Water based ext varnish, the belay pins and bars (all teak), that was 14 mths ago. One coat and it still shows no signs of deterioration. I only put one coat on because if it failed miserably, there wouldn't be such a big problem removing the varnish.I like the concept of water based varnish on a boat for the obvious convenient reasons.BTW we are based in Morton Bay Queensland where the sun shines about 320 days of the year......