Tips on Marine Varnish Jobs
Marine Varnishing Done Right
These tips about how to varnish wood cover both marine craft and other wooden objects. The skill involved in varnishing wood goes way back, and in spite of modern attempts to make it simpler to produce the best in vibrant finishes (and also to cut down the time involved), these fundamental concepts apply to all your painting and varnishing jobs.
The standard answer to terrific marine varnishing jobs is to create several coats of the finest varnish you can get your hands on, sanding between each application until a set, uniform surface is achieved. It is a time-consuming process; however, the end result is worth the effort. A good coating of varnish will safeguard and preserve your wood. The best marine varnish will repay you many times over in the coming years.
220 grit sandpaper is good, since the marks it results in are smaller. Always sand in the same direction. A coarser grit might be used, but it may leave visible marks, which may be impossible to cover with the final coat of varnish. A finer sandpaper may be used, but remember that it will take more time for similar results, and might end up not being as good at developing the best bond between coatings of varnish. A finer grit may also result in more sags within the varnish, especially on upright surfaces, since there’s no “tooth” for that varnish to hang onto.
Sanding between layers of varnish is essential since it accomplishes a couple of things: First, it lowers the “high spots” and secondly, but more to the point, it possesses a tooth for the following coat to stick to.
If you look carefully along the the surface of wood, you will find “mountain tops” and “valleys” that occur naturally within the wood. These “mountain tops” are usually winter development in the wood, as the “valleys” are usually summer time growth which is commonly much softer. This issue is made worse when you don’t make use of a sanding block, since your fingers push the sandpaper lower into the much softer wood.
Of course, you could always do things the easy way – Call Andy on 0439 706 956 and let the experts take care of all of your marine varnishing needs.
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