Building a set of Craftsman style garage doors. I will add that am kayak builder and old wood boat owner. So I understand UV and finish issues. Well versed with Varnish too.
Our original plan was to paint the doors. Easy to maintain. Looking for ideas I came across this door design. We both love it and I going to build something similar to this.
Now I am having a hard time convincing myself to paint it. It would just ruin the look. So I am thinking about finishes. The obvious choice is good marine varnish. I know from working with boats it can be high maintenance, lots of work.
The one good thing is the doors will face east and we live in a wooded area. So they won’t see more than half a days sunshine. I figure varnish will probably be good for two years.
So now I am looking the possibility of some sort of oil finish maybe? That I have no experience with using oil outdoors except with boat paddles and pure tung oil. But they don’t live in the sunshine like these doors would. I know it will still need to be maintained but thinking reapplication might be easier than varnish.
I suspect that an oil finish wouldn’t last that long without recoating? I find our paddles need it a couple of times a year to keep them from drying out, but a large part of that is always about the feel on the hands.
Anyone have any experience to share?
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I've done a bunch of work on an old Allied Seawind ketch. My pal that owns it has always been enamoured of brightwork, but not of the maintenance required. Projects like a new hatch, grab rails, and winch mounts all started out epifanes, got demoted to teak oil, and were finally painted.
In the oil phase some parts did better than others. Some bleached and dried right away, some went gray, and some went black... presumably with mold of some kind. The black parts were all vertical surfaces like hatch cover boards. The woods used were teak and mahagony.
For the look like your photo a poly or varnish is the answer. If you go for the oil thing you can always punt on the upkeep and paint them if they age poorly.
You have to get more that two years from a good Spar varnish, especially on vertical surfaces. For that a minimum of 6 coats are required. Marine Cetol is what we found lasted longest and was easiest to maintain but will impart an orange hue. 4 coats of regular and a coat of gloss every other Year will last us 8 years before starting over.
MJ, pretty much speaking what I have seen too. One good thing about painting over varnish if it comes to that, it make removing the paint easier!
Northstar. Thanks. I am being pessimistic. I ma getting older and varnishing doors is going to be bigger and bigger job. But I do love varnish!!