Hi —
I’m a couple of weekends short of completing a tack trunk for my daughter. Construction is African mahogany frame (corners and rails joined by sliding dovetails) and marine grade okoume panels for sides and top. I plan to attach 3″ casters to keep it off the ground and facilitate movement.
To those who are unfamiliar with tack trunks: they are used by horse back riders to store equipment and are subjected to tough conditions and treatment. This one will live in a NE barn (covered, unheated, lots of openings to outside)and will be transported to events where it may be stored in similar conditions — or worse, left outside for hours exposed to the elements for short periods of time.
Obviously, I’m asking a lot of any finishing solution. My goals: (1) protection against environment (2) durability against tough handling, (3) attractive finish that highlights both woods (accentuating contrast between the darker mahogany and lighter okoume), (4) need for reasonable skill level to apply finish (I’m not a finishing pro)and (5)anything I’m too inexperienced to realize is an important goal.
For what it’s worth, based on my research, I’m thinking about marine grade varnish (low sheen). But, here’s where I would really welcome actual experience from forum members to guide my choice.
Thanks in advance for advice/suggestions. I’m glad to provide additional information if that would help.
Best,
Ken
Replies
I would go with a marine grade varnish as well. It will provide better UV protection and is a bit more flexible than some of the other varnishes, so less likely to crack with big swings in temperature.
Jim
You need to consider that marine grade spar varnish is all gloss, no satin or semi-gloss is available. If you see some with those other sheens it isn't quality marine grade spar varnish.
I'm not really sure you need marine spar varnish since it's primary benefit is UV resistance, and as you tell it it would be likely to receive maybe 40 hours in a year. Spar varnish isn't more water resistant that other varnishes, if anything its a little less. And, it's relatively soft--it dings up pretty easily. That's why yacht owners want all their guests to wear boat shoes. They may tell you it's to keep you from slipping overboard, but the real reason is so you won't scratch the brightwork.
I'd thing a good phenolic resin varnsih made with tung oil as an ingredient would work well for you. Tough, and a bit of natural UV resistance as a bonus. Waterlox is one such. They make a satin varnish, and you can start with the Original/Sealer as a wiping varnish to build a little film thickness, and then finish with a couple of coats Satin either brushed (or with just a little thinning and careful attention to keep it almost constantly stirred durring application also wiped on.)
I'm a horse owner like your daughter, and the nicest tack trunks I ever dealt with had tops that were padded and upholstered with nice quality exterior grade vinyl or naugahyde. The advantages were several. You could sit on them either in the aisle of the barn, or at a horse show, and your tush would have some cush under it. They dusted off easy, so you could sit on them in white dressage breeches without getting a dusty rump. They cleaned up great with armor-all. You could drop a $10,000 Western saddle with all the silver on it on the trunk, and the metal wouldn't ding the top of the tack trunk. The exterior grade vinyl kept the rain off of the rest of the trunk, (this is in Seattle) rather than letting water pool on the top surface, and slide under to get through the finish on the sides... When the owner of those tack trunks died, there was a big fight amongst everyone in the barn to make an offer to the heirs - who were no fools and refused to sell!
do you have a plan for the tack trunk. My daughter has horses. American Baskir Curlies and I would like to build one for her.
Thanks to all for your helpful responses.
Regarding finish, Steve's response inspired me to better understand the differences between spar varnish and regular varnish -- and it seems that a high quality low sheen is best for my application (durability wins out over UV protection). I'd welcome any additional thoughts on application technique: I'm sanding to 220 and will follow Steve's directions.
Making the top a vinyl seat: I thought that was an inspired idea -- both functional and attractive if built right. My daughter, however, vetoed it in a second. She doesn't want her tack trunk to stand out from all the others.
Finally, I designed the trunk from scratch -- with inspiration from a FWW design for a blanket chest (the sliding dovetail part). I have a sketch-up model that gives a sense of the design and dimensions, but I built it step by step to accomodate wood constrants and, unfortunately, my more than occasional slip-ups.
Thanks again for the help.
Ken
It seems to me that a similar question to this was asked a long time ago, and somehow a varnish and oil finish also came in for consideration. It would be easy to repair/reapply.
There may not be satin marine varnish but there is satin spar varnish available--non-poly. Just a thought.
Gretchen
Ken..
My daughter, however, vetoed it in a second. She doesn't want her tack trunk to stand out from all the others.
Why NOT, I'm sure She is the Prettiest!
Just funnin ya' and very serious at the same time' I have Three Daughters and Four Granddaughters.. And the Son!
For what it is worth I made one for my daughter-in-law... that.. OK we never hit it off..
Made it in a locker style so some place to hang up clothes and some leather to dry out. With a Neoprene seat over a storage space.
She told me she hated it.. My Son told me she loved it?
Same thing with some Standards? I made for her!
Sorry. I forgot to add to NBCHAMPS that you are welcome to a copy of my sketch-up file. Just let me know.
Thanks. Would appreciate if you could send a copy by e mail if possible.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled