Wooden floor boards

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m1taylor

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Hi, on my 17ft clinker wooden sloop, I have removed all the floor boards which then allowed me to inspect, clean up and re-paint the bilge area. So the slatted floor boards are in my garage. They appear to be softwood - but good quality as they have withstood being damp and wet, and now that they are dry, have no real evidence of rot. They were painted white, which was all flaking off. So I have removed the paint, using a gentle heat gun, and then finished off with a sander - so they look quite nice now. I would like to varnish them, but was thinking of sousing them in cuprinol wood preserver first, for good measure. So just to check before I get my brush out - is yacht varnish ok for floor boards, or should I be thinking of oil, or paint? I would really rather not paint them, as I like the look of the old pine.
 
1. Clear cuprinol is excellent for wood treatment - keep slapping it on until the wood won't absorb any more.

2. Wouldn't recommend varnish - rather slippery when wet...
 
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1. Clear cuprinol is excellent for wood treatment - keep slapping it on until the wood won't absorb any more.

2. Wouldn't recommend varnish - rather slippery when wet...

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Take your point, but I suppose it depends on how much getting up and dancing about you are likely to do in a 17 footer?

I have Douglas Fir bottom boards in a 15 footer that I am restoring, and they have always been varnished, from new. I stripped them right back, and then gave 'em a couple of coats of 50/50 raw linseed oil and turpentine, when thoroughly dry, 4 coats of yacht varnish as per original spec.

Her builder is still in business, so I was able to ask what is best, and he said, "well how much dancing about are you gonna do in a 15 footer" /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Wow! someone else that knows about the 50/50 turpentine/linseed oil treatment!

Was given recipe for this, also including using linseed oil in the first few coats of varnish to keep it soft and more damage resistant. Works a treat!
 
Just out of curiosity I presume you mean non-boiled linseed oil? If this is the case I wonder why boiled is not suitable as it seems to the more ubiquitous?
 
The Turps has to be genuine Turpentine NOT Turps substitute. And the linseed oil - I have used Boiled linseed oil.

The genuine turps is essential to dissolve the linseed oil properly.
 
Borates are a lot cheaper and significantly less toxic than Cuprin*l. The heavier versions (pastes etc) have glycol mixed with the borates. OF.

No. Borates are salts of Borax and don't come from Kazakstan........
 
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Just out of curiosity I presume you mean non-boiled linseed oil? If this is the case I wonder why boiled is not suitable as it seems to the more ubiquitous?

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Yes, raw linseed oil is not the boiled stuff, there have been a few threads about the diferences fairly recently, but I am blowed if my few remaining functional brain cells can access the information at the minute! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

It must be genuine turpentine as has just been said, not white spirit or turps substitute.

Have mooch through this site, it is where I get all my turpentine , raw linseed oil and methylated spirits from, do it in gallon and half gallon cans if you want, at very good prices.
Look under solvents for turpentine. Also, thier yacht varnish is very good stuff, I was dubious when I looked at it on the site, but at that price I thought it was worth having a go? I think it is great stuff, flows out beautifully.

http://www.decoratingdirect.co.uk/
 
Hi, I take it that the 50/50 turps/linseed oil is instead of expensive wood preserver rather than as well as? Sounds like a good idea to me - but does the raw linseed oil darken the wood significantly?
 
Could be used after wood applying preservative.

The idea of using turpentine is to help the linseed oil absorb into the wood. This results in the outer few mm of the spar being waterproofed so water can't get in. A preservative would protect the timber if water did get past this barrier.

The linseed oil doesn't darken the timber much, and the end result is more of a golden couler.
 
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Hi, I take it that the 50/50 turps/linseed oil is instead of expensive wood preserver rather than as well as? Sounds like a good idea to me - but does the raw linseed oil darken the wood significantly?

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As Fluffc, as already said, you could use both, but my feeling is that you will probably get better penetration of the linseed oil with out the preservative. I feel that it isn't really necessary to use both, the water proofing properties of the Turpentine and Linseed oil (given at least a couple of coats) is sufficient. Also, I think that the turps and the Linseed Oil, put life back into the timber if you understand what I mean by that?

If you get the wood back to really clean, the colourisation of it by turpes and linseed, is quite pleasing, a sort of honeyed look?
 
All the replies regarding the linseed oil etc. I am sure are ok however, I have a 17ft 6 inch open boat and you can be assured you will need to move around her a fair bit and when any damp from spray, rain, mizzle, or spillages of tea, coffee, or any other liquid, varnish can be treacherous. I wanted to retain the varnished mahogany of my bottom boards so when painting on the final coat I mixed a good sprinkling of the non slip (sand), almost dust one can buy for non slip decks and it has been most successful, hope this helps, all the best, Kevin /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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All the replies regarding the linseed oil etc. I am sure are ok however, I have a 17ft 6 inch open boat and you can be assured you will need to move around her a fair bit and when any damp from spray, rain, mizzle, or spillages of tea, coffee, or any other liquid, varnish can be treacherous. I wanted to retain the varnished mahogany of my bottom boards so when painting on the final coat I mixed a good sprinkling of the non slip (sand), almost dust one can buy for non slip decks and it has been most successful, hope this helps, all the best, Kevin /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

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Perhaps? for those that feel the need, a more elegant solution would be to apply some of those self adhesive non slip pads in strategic locations, that are available from most good chandlers, the problem with grit in either varnish or paint, is the amount of dirt it traps, and soon makes the whole thing look a bit tardy /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Or, heard of someone sprinkling sugar on the wet varnish; give it a scrub after and the sugar dissolves leaving lots of little craters for non slip finish. Anyone tried this ?
 
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sprinkling sugar on the wet varnish

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Yes this works. You need to do all the "required" coats first. Then put on a the final coat - not too thick. Let it start to go tacky then sprinkle the sugar on. Use granulated and avoid any dust in the bottom of the bag. When all is properly gone off, wash with warm water. I have done it several times to good effect but I did get it wrong once when I tipped the sugar onto thick wet varnish the moment I had brushed it on. The sugar went into solution and the varnish didn't go off so had to be scraped. Messy but tasted good.
 
Re: Wooden floor boards - sugar in varnish

I should have said, of course... Try a small area first. One that doesn't matter. It could be that different paints and varnishes will react differently so you might just end up with a sticky mess.
 
Re: Wooden floor boards - sugar in varnish

Hi Folks, thanks for the all the good posts - have now bought authentic real turps and raw linseed oil - all ready to go. And Le Tonk to varnish afterwards - I'll be back if all flakes off by the end of next summer!!
 
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