replacing varnish on toerails/grab handles

[Scotty_Tradewind]

does oiling the wood go black?

It certainly brings out the darker colours of the grain in most hardwoods.
I'm not sure how long it lasts though, most people I speak to say they apply it several times a year as a matter of course.

What good it does other than give the wood a different appearance is open to debate. Could it give timbers a greater resilience to cracking along the grain(shakes).. possibly. ??

I have only put teak oil on a short area of the toe rail on my previous boat as a test and decided not to spend out on doing the rest and then on a small area of my present cockpit.
I found that it was a bit too easy to get onto clothes when used in the cockpit, but maybe I should have left it longer before using the boat??

The problems with a cover for areas of varnish or oil is that a) it's yet another thing to do at the end of a long day and b) yet more expense on top.

 

[prv]

It certainly brings out the darker colours of the grain in most hardwoods.

If oil is applied after sanding, I've found it's important to thoroughly remove all dust first. The wood looks much darker and duller after oiling if there is still dust from sanding remaining in the grain. It's not visible or particularly feel-able, so after a bit of hoovering and vigorous brushing you might think the dust is all gone, but if you use one of those tacky cloths you can pull a lot more out of it. With the trim pieces and chart table I did this winter, I kept wiping until the tack cloth came away clean, and it looks quite different to the cabin table (which wasn't so carefully cleaned) despite coming from the same batch of timber and being treated with the same oil.

Pete

 

[nigelmercier]

My toe rail and grab handle varnish are peeling off...

Am I the only one who read this as "replacing varnish on toenails ..."

 

[Niander]

maybe i put the wrong oil on cause it made the wood go black
does the good stuff stay a nice brown?

 

[richardsnowstar]

When I cleaned the old varnish off my rubbing strake I used a chemical stripper that is OK on GRP. I can't remeber the name but I got it from Force 4 chandlery.


Can I just clarify....are people recommending Danish oil or Dutch oil or both?

Also where can you get it?

 

[theoldsalt]

richardsnowstar,

I think we are recommending Danish Oil. (I wrongly stated Dutch Oil in post 10)

 

[Lakesailor]

BTW I would never use International varnish. If the owner insisted I would decline the job.
Cheers,
Chris

Does that extend to UCP. I found it very good.
of course we don't have searing heat etc.

 

[richardsnowstar]

richardsnowstar,

I think we are recommending Danish Oil. (I wrongly stated Dutch Oil in post 10)

Thanks for this. Is it the best stuff for teak rubbing strakes if you don't want to varnish?

Any recommendations for where to get it?

 

[theoldsalt]

richardsnowstar,

I have only used the oil on my grab rails after scraping them back to clean wood.

They came up a treat after 3 or 4 coats and seem to be standing up to the weather well. I intend adding a couple more coats for the winter.

 

[xtiffer]

Does that extend to UCP. I found it very good.
of course we don't have searing heat etc.

Yes, I used to use UCP regularly but have not seen it recently.
But beware, it is not good on oily wood so no use on teak.
If you want a hard primer on teak then use Epifanes PP or Wood Impreg 120
( search for my previous posts on the latter).
Cheers,
Chris

 

[Plevier]

Thanks for this. Is it the best stuff for teak rubbing strakes if you don't want to varnish?

Any recommendations for where to get it?

Try your nearest timber merchant. I bought a litre of Liberon Danish Oil for about £9. Screwfix do Colron a bit cheaper but I think Liberon is better.
When I bought my 2003 boat in March this year the handrails were grey, rough and thick with green growth underneath, I expected to have to replace them. However a bit of sanding and about 6 coats of this stuff made them look like new and feel nice, not sticky. They really haven't deteriorated over the "summer", I guess they'll need a light rub and another coat or two in the spring.

 

[ianj99]

Hi,

My toe rail and grab handle varnish are peeling off.

I believe the wood is teak, and once exposed goes from a mid-brown to gery quite quickly.

A few questions;

1. How to remove the rest? Scraper, peel or nitromors?
2. How to get back to the mid-brown colour?
3. What to replace with?

Ta.

At the risk of being scoffed for not using a 'marine' product, I decided to try Ronseal 5yr outdoor wood seal - the water based stuff.
I realised it doesn't give a smooth glossy varnish finish but it is easy to renovate.
Photo 1 shows the teak hatch - the top surface was cleaned of old varnish and then treated with 3 coats of teak oil in the spring and left to weather so looks exactly as you would expect.
The vertical edge had 2 coats of Ronseal at the same time instead of teak oil.
Photo 2 shows the inside of the wheelhouse door - the outside was similar but much much worse with about 25% black stain where water had got under the varnish and rest peeling and milky old varnish. (added photo 4 which shows the door looking its worst)
Photo 3 shows the exterior and was cleaned of all the varnish with a Barco scraper and give a light sanding before 2 coats of Ronseal. The photos were taken today, after 6months of Scottish weather and there is no visible deterioration.

I don't mind reapplying a couple of coats once a year and am not bothered about the coarser semi matt sheen. Its certainly a much less labour intensive way of maintaining wood than varnish (I hate the stuff!)

I intend to do the teak toe & hand rails as soon as and see how they stand up to the winter...
I