catzooks.com

Varnishing... again

I returned from two weeks of vacation with the family in Sault Ste Marie, and I'm still digging myself out of all the email, photos (still haven't run through the Swift regatta pictures...) and the myriad other things which need doing.

I did spend a weekend varnishing the hull again - up to four coats of varnish now. Another three and I'll be good. Once again I applied two coats back to back. As I learnt with the hull, because the first coat was still a wee bit tacky, the varnish doesn't go on quite as thinly. The first 150ml made it to the front of the centre rail; the second 150ml made it to one foot from the transom.

I also employed a different cleanup procedure: I pressed my brush in a paper towel to remove the excess varnish, then washed it very thoroughly in turpentine, then washed again in water. I think this got it clean enough (I certainly hope so). I also let my "ruined" brush sit in fresh turpentine for the entire application of the second coat. This seemed to do the trick - the brush has come back from the dead. Perhaps I'll be able to salvage it after all.

In a conversation with Bill, he mentioned that the good quality Home-Depot oil paint brushes are enough - perhaps I'll try that next time (they're about half the price of the brushes I'm using). And he turned me on to checking the manufacturer's recommendations for applying a second coat without sanding - which of course the data sheet for Interlux Perfection says you can't do. Sigh. What's done is done.

(9 images)

Second coat of varnish

Put on coat two of varnish this week. That involved sanding down coat one (with 220 and 400 grit), wiping the residue away with a sponge and lots of water, and then cleaning with acetone and a sock as a rag. I didn't sand away absolutely everything, there are still some areas which remain glossy - but I decided that I wasn't going to bother to go further, and I'd just assume the next coat would stick.

That acetone/sock combination turned out to leave a lot of lint - and so I went over everything with a tack cloth to remove it. Then 150ml of varnish, which got me all the way to the end of the centre rail. Another 100ml was enough to complete the deck and transom, with a bit to spare.

For this coat, I used a real $20 varnish brush - and it made a big difference. Easier to put on, easier to control how much varnish came out, easier to get into all the nooks and crannies of the bolts, easier to deal with. Well worth the money for the brush, despite what the internet says. (Don't bother with foam.)

(12 images)