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Teak restoration
The teak trim on our boat was heavily varnished. Can it be stripped
down and returned to oil finish or is the grain now hopelessly filled with varnish? Any other suggestions? I hate varnishing. -- Roger Long |
The varnish will come off easily with a heat gun and a good scraper.
Raw teak does just fine. Use "sudsy ammonia" and give it a gentle scrub. Finish with salt water rinse. Varnish ain't that hard to keep up. Check out "Epithane's Wood Finish". Follow the directions on the label. You need about 9 coats, but since you don't sand between coats and a good foam roller puts it on smoothly, it goes pretty fast. Roger Long wrote: The teak trim on our boat was heavily varnished. Can it be stripped down and returned to oil finish or is the grain now hopelessly filled with varnish? Any other suggestions? I hate varnishing. |
9 Coats!
Heat gun and scraper sound good to me. It actually isn't the varnishing. Since this is trim, it's masking all the complex edges that drives me nuts. I can't leave the masking tape on in the sun so it means masking over and over around all those handrail holes. I'd rather oil it every couple of weeks. OTOH, it's going to be hard not to harm the fiberglass with a heat gun. A moment's inattention... -- Roger Long "Jim" wrote in message .net... The varnish will come off easily with a heat gun and a good scraper. Raw teak does just fine. Use "sudsy ammonia" and give it a gentle scrub. Finish with salt water rinse. Varnish ain't that hard to keep up. Check out "Epithane's Wood Finish". Follow the directions on the label. You need about 9 coats, but since you don't sand between coats and a good foam roller puts it on smoothly, it goes pretty fast. Roger Long wrote: The teak trim on our boat was heavily varnished. Can it be stripped down and returned to oil finish or is the grain now hopelessly filled with varnish? Any other suggestions? I hate varnishing. |
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Roger Long wrote:
9 Coats! Heat gun and scraper sound good to me. It actually isn't the varnishing. Since this is trim, it's masking all the complex edges that drives me nuts. I can't leave the masking tape on in the sun so it means masking over and over around all those handrail holes. I'd rather oil it every couple of weeks. OTOH, it's going to be hard not to harm the fiberglass with a heat gun. A moment's inattention... It's not that bad if you put down a couple of layers of tape first. ;-) Seriously, I just did it on our boat where a PO had messed up the varnish somehow. I taped off the area like I was going to sand and then used the heat gun. The gun wrecks the tape, but it doesn't seem to hurt the gelcoat. (I'll tell you what it does hurt - skin! Ouch!) I kept the gun moving and never let anything get too hot. Use a good sharp pull scraper. The process makes a terrible mess with little cornflakes of varnish everywhere. You'll still have to sand some to get what you missed. Of course you know that oil has no UV, mildew, or impact protection. The paint idea is a good one. Best of luck! Cindy -- The email address above is a spam trap. Don't expect a response. Reach me using firstname at lastname dot net |
Red Cloud© wrote:
Leave the varnish, and paint over it with a UV resistant solid color paint. NO NO NO NO NO! ignore this philistine completely he is an anencephalic who sadly will never have...a clue Teak is easily restored from its adulterated i.e., varnished state. Varnish, and worse "paint" are cheap "solutions" applied by the lazy to a simple problem that can be solved with the application of the universal solvent...elbow grease. On sunny, dry days, sand as per directions and instructions you can find anywhere online to remove the offending stuff. Rinse with copious amounts of water. Alternatively, after sanding, _attentive_ and _prudent_ blasting with a pressure washer opens up the grain and removes sanding dust. Let dry in the sun for a day. Oil away when dry. Watch how thirsty the starved wood is and replenish as necessary. Wipe excess with a clean rag. The issue actually is not with the wood. It is the oil that mildews and turns black in the grain of the wood. Sadly there's nothing to be done about it. On the Great Lakes, I'll oil in April/May and need to redo the copious amounts of bright work on my vintage '66 sloop by August. Once sanded to a corrected finish, the wood can be cleaned mid-season by wetting the wood, applying Comet, and scrubbing with a brass suede brush. Copious rinsing, followed by drying, followed by oiling completes the task. There are no shortage of dry, high-wind days when you can engage in the highly satisfying activity of maintaining the bright work. |
Teak is best replaced or painted. Who wants to spend time varnishing
when he could be sailing? |
Oil holds on to dirt.
The heat gun is the best for stripping varnish. What I haven't tried I have watched others do. Strippers are always bad for something "down stream." When you add the clean up, the heat gun is easier. OTOH, it's going to be hard not to harm the fiberglass with a heat gun. A moment's inattention... Pay attention. After a while, you will get the feel for it, and it will go easily. Forget any tape. A small piece of thin aluminum works well as a heat shield. Burn your hands a couple of times, you will learn how to not burn your hands. You will aquire something called SKILL. Paint is a bad idea. You don't want to varnish it, don't. Keep it clean! Rinse with salt water. You don't varnish (or oil) decks, do you? When someone says some product is easier than varnish, don't listen to them, watch them, look at their boat. The worst looking boat on my dock is the one that's owned by the guy who thinks Cetol is easier. I bought a fiberglass boat that someone with good intentions had painted. Spent many hours at the end of a heat gun and scraper removing the paint. Looks completely acceptable without that damn paint. Fiberglass is amazing stuff. Now to sit on the deck and look at the Cetol guy's neglected wood. Cindy Ballreich wrote: Roger Long wrote: 9 Coats! Heat gun and scraper sound good to me. It actually isn't the varnishing. Since this is trim, it's masking all the complex edges that drives me nuts. I can't leave the masking tape on in the sun so it means masking over and over around all those handrail holes. I'd rather oil it every couple of weeks. OTOH, it's going to be hard not to harm the fiberglass with a heat gun. A moment's inattention... It's not that bad if you put down a couple of layers of tape first. ;-) Seriously, I just did it on our boat where a PO had messed up the varnish somehow. I taped off the area like I was going to sand and then used the heat gun. The gun wrecks the tape, but it doesn't seem to hurt the gelcoat. (I'll tell you what it does hurt - skin! Ouch!) I kept the gun moving and never let anything get too hot. Use a good sharp pull scraper. The process makes a terrible mess with little cornflakes of varnish everywhere. You'll still have to sand some to get what you missed. Of course you know that oil has no UV, mildew, or impact protection. The paint idea is a good one. Best of luck! Cindy |
I wear leather gloves when stripping with a heat gun, works most of the
time, no scars... |
Red Cloud© wrote:
Leave the varnish, and paint over it with a UV resistant solid color paint. prodigal1 wrote: NO NO NO NO NO! ignore this philistine completely he is an anencephalic who sadly will never have...a clue Well, I agree, but I've got better things to do than varnish, myself. That's why my wife does all our brightwork. One of these days, it's going to get a coat of nice yacht-y looking buff paint. Sears Weathrbeater is guaranteed for 15 years. ;) Teak is easily restored from its adulterated i.e., varnished state. Varnish, and worse "paint" are cheap "solutions" .... ....Oil away when dry. Watch how thirsty the starved wood is and replenish as necessary. Wipe excess with a clean rag. Constantly applying oil is actually more time consuming than varnishing. You'd be amazed at how often you have to oil the wood, and how awful it will look anyway after a couple of years. So guess what, you're back to sanding it & applying various "cleaners" etc etc. And IMHO a pretty piece of wood, well varnished, is beautiful. An oiled piece of wood (no matter how nice the grain) is far less of an aesthetic pleasure. Varnish is a way of not only preserving the wood from rot (which is all oil is good for) but also magnifying the beauty of the grain. Of course, lots of wood used on boats isn't pretty enough to be worth varnishing in the first place. ... There are no shortage of dry, high-wind days when you can engage in the highly satisfying activity of maintaining the bright work. There is around here. We get probably 3 good varnishing days a year. Fresh Breezes- Doug King |
Maybe youve never seen a properly oiled piece of wood.
Oil finishes can be smoother, more lusterous, more glossy and just as or more brilliant than any varnish. Resinated (varnish added to) oil is an intermediate between both coating systems. An oiled finish thats periodically wiped with a UV inhibitor/retardant such as the 'modern' 303 aerospace protectants .... will last quite long. Ditto varnish. . ...... but then again you probably never saw a properly varnished piece of work either .... flattened and then hand rubbed (with rottenstone, etc.) to develop the extreme gloss thats possible with varnish and the irridescent patina of the wood cells. Too bad the 'french polishing' techniques with shellac cant be exposed to sunlight or water .... as they are the MOST brilliant ... makes plate glass blush with envy. Prep and Dipping a brush into a can or container is only part of the process.. Cetol dribblers would never know this In article , DSK wrote: Red Cloud© wrote: Leave the varnish, and paint over it with a UV resistant solid color paint. prodigal1 wrote: NO NO NO NO NO! ignore this philistine completely he is an anencephalic who sadly will never have...a clue Well, I agree, but I've got better things to do than varnish, myself. That's why my wife does all our brightwork. One of these days, it's going to get a coat of nice yacht-y looking buff paint. Sears Weathrbeater is guaranteed for 15 years. ;) Teak is easily restored from its adulterated i.e., varnished state. Varnish, and worse "paint" are cheap "solutions" .... ....Oil away when dry. Watch how thirsty the starved wood is and replenish as necessary. Wipe excess with a clean rag. Constantly applying oil is actually more time consuming than varnishing. You'd be amazed at how often you have to oil the wood, and how awful it will look anyway after a couple of years. So guess what, you're back to sanding it & applying various "cleaners" etc etc. And IMHO a pretty piece of wood, well varnished, is beautiful. An oiled piece of wood (no matter how nice the grain) is far less of an aesthetic pleasure. Varnish is a way of not only preserving the wood from rot (which is all oil is good for) but also magnifying the beauty of the grain. Of course, lots of wood used on boats isn't pretty enough to be worth varnishing in the first place. ... There are no shortage of dry, high-wind days when you can engage in the highly satisfying activity of maintaining the bright work. There is around here. We get probably 3 good varnishing days a year. Fresh Breezes- Doug King |
Rich Hampel wrote:
Cetol dribblers would never know this DING! we have a winner folks! everyone can go home now |
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