Teak oil on pitch pine or carry on varnishing?

[NPMR]

We have a very elegant boat hook made of pine. It is old and has no knots so I suspect it is pitch pine.

Every year I strip it and varnish it and it becomes a thing of beauty but also, each year, water gets under the varnish somewhere, when the varnish is chipped or damaged in use and of course, the water cannot get out, so the wood stays wet under the varnish and goes dark.

I was wondering whether I might not be better off covering it in teak oil (or maybe something else) that will breathe and let the wood dry, after it gets wet? Retaining its elegance?

Any thoughts?

 

[sailorman]

oil will make it go much darker & once its done its done

 

[westernman]

Try using Le Tokinois. It breathes better than many other varnishes, won't chip, gives a reasonable finish and is easy to touch up.
I would not put oil on it - it will look nasty afterwards.

 

[Tranona]

Use International Woodskin. Breathable and does not chip or flake, Easily touched up if scuffed and will last several years before recoating. Don't use oil. Sticky stuff which attracts dirt and does not protect the wood in the way you imagine.

 

[Nicholas123]

Danish oil.Won't darken the wood or remain sticky,won't involve you in endless sanding & faffing about & shows through the real qualities of the wood.:encouragement:

 

[30boat]

I have a plastic boat.Sorry,couldn't resist...

 

[Ian_Edwards]

I wouldn't use oil, pitch pine has a very high resin content and the oil won't readily soak in. My guess is that it'll stay sticky on the surface.

The house I've lived in for over 30years has all pitch pine internal joinery, doors, skirting boards, the lot. It was all stripped and then varnished with a single pack polyurethane varnish when we moved in, and it still looks as good as the day we finish the job.

I'd use a good 2 pack polyurethane varnish after stripping and sanding, starting with thinned coat to aid adhesion. With luck that should last for a good few years.

 

[westernman]

I'd use a good 2 pack polyurethane varnish after stripping and sanding, starting with thinned coat to aid adhesion. With luck that should last for a good few years.

I wouldn't. Two pack varnish goes a nasty yellow if exposed to a lot of sun (e.g. on a boat in the Med). It can also get chipped and is then difficult to adequately touch up.

 

[Stork_III]

Danish oil.Won't darken the wood or remain sticky,won't involve you in endless sanding & faffing about & shows through the real qualities of the wood.:encouragement:

+1,and very easy to touch up any dings, quick rub with wet/dry and wipe on new coat.

 

[Dejure]

Years old thread, but information is information.

As to teak oil, to make it would require squeezing teak trees, or using the distilling methods use for extracting oils. In truth, most so called teak oils are nothing more than boiled linseed oil with resins added, which is then thinned. Essentially, it equates to buying a can of poly and thinning it with paint thinner.

As to surface coats, using boiled linseed oil or tung oil, you will find two kinds - short oil and long oil finishes. The short oil finishes are just polys with less oil than the long oil finishes. This makes them harder than the long oil finishes, but also means they are less flexible than the long oil finishes, so will not stand up to the flexing (expanding and shrinking of wood due to changes in moisture content). It is for that reason long oil finishes are used in exterior and nautical applications. The finish flexes better with the expansion and contraction of the wood.

If I were putting a surface coat on, I would be concerned with the problems described by the original poster. To limit that, I would thin my coats using turpentine to get greater penetration. I have thinned SOME applications as much as 50% for extreme penetration of the initial coats. I kept adding more finish to areas that soaked it in, and tried to keep the whole surface wet (avoid evaporation and hardening of the surface) for as long as my patience would allow. Some spots always absorb faster than others.

After the first coats, I stepped back my thinning to about 15% or 20% and added a few more coats. Then I added final coats.

This approach gave the wood more protection, when the finish coat failed, and reduced the amount of moisture gained and lost with changes in humidity and such, which reduced expansion and contraction of the wood and extended the life of the final finish.

It may be this approach would allow one to lightly scuff the surface with about a 220 grit abrasive pad (similar to the 3-M scrub pads, which are more harsh) and just wipe on a couple thin coats to freshen the finish.

 

[Dejure]

Add to the above, many thin their pine tar and boiled linseed oil finish with more turpentine for the initial coats, as above, to get better penetration, then they cut back for the final coat(s).