Hey Guys - i am staining my bed wood and was wondering if i can clear coat the stained wood with regular auto clear? has anyone had any experience doing this? will it work ? how many coats? or does anyone have other suggestions. spar varnish is an option to i guess. thanks Joe
Clear finish woodbed. What kinda wood bed are you planning to install , oak , pine , maple ? Wood is a living material that swells and srinks. Hard and soft wood structures give different reactions under changing weather conditions. I`ll recommend to soak the boards in a bath of linoil or tungoil some days before installing them. The oil penetrates easely through when boards are dry. After 5 years in use you have to maintain with 2 strokes. If the oil is to thick you could use some parafin mixed in it 10% will do. Polyutherane only stays on the surface 4-5 mm and dryes to fast causing the hardening chemicalls in it. Even if you use 3 strokes in the long term it will come off and makes your boards grey and cracked , starting nearby the metal strips. Clearcoat and metal are reacting negativ together. Using oil based paint is also well aproved 3 strokes. Changing weather conditions cracks the clearcoat surface more easely depending on what kind of wood it is. Pine , redwood are moore flexible then oak as oak is much harder. The oak wood structure does not soak liguid as easely as the softer wood products. Vikingships made between 900- 1300 after chr. where found in the swamps in Norway and the wood whas preserved with a mixture of linoil and tar wich they still use today on wooden church roofs , walls in scandinavia. Black tar paint is very protective and keeps flexible under differnt weather conditions.I am not shore if paint of that kind is avalable in the US but you could try to find out !
Unless it is not used and kept inside, clearcoat will not hold up. Check my build thread on how I used Tung oil on the 53.
if you want to have a clear coat. do what the boat builders do. Use an epoxy like west system epoxy. You can apply over most stains. you can totally encase the wood so NO water can get into the wood grain. Most clear epoxies need a uv protection, this means putting exterior varnish/urethane. Check out what is being done on boats,(they are always with water and wood). steve
Just like boats...if you want a nice shiny finish all the time and its outside...then you will have annual or bi-annual maintenance. Mine is Yellow pine stained with Mahoghany and then several coats of Marine Polyurethane. Its garaged and I have a Rubber diamond matt layed over the wood for work.....its been five years and no sign of needing a new coat. I take out the matt and go to shows/cruise ins! Yeah....You could say Chevy's do it all!!
Stain Someone told me to use Marine Spar Finish. Like flashlight said, they use it on boats to protect from water. I used 6 coats on mine and sanded between each coat. I've seen no problems yet but I will wait and see.
tests have been done I don't have the web site infront of me, but....there is a place in Oklahoma that makes wood beds. They have done tests...a few years duration...and followed deteriation and progress. Look them up I think it is very, very useful information. There are several tests. I think I finally went with the spar finishing...several, several coats on boards that I have had in storage for 20 years...they look fab. My notebook has the site, but I don't have wifi right now...just slow boat to china service right now...if you don't find it...I'll go to a wifi place manana and look...actually I think I even have the information saved. Check it out. I actually plan to do some more wood work stuff...like beds for the fun of it...or for my boys trucks...a rat and a rod...mine is an original. Rod
Addendum(sic) That web site is at Mar-K Quality Parts in Oklahoma City, OK ...they have the info on their web site...6625 West Wilshire Blvd. Super interesting reading and the protection that you would think would be best(and more expensive) is not in reality. For over all, it turns out that how I was thinking is the best...cheaper is sometimes better! Good Luck, Rod
Intresting test reading. I have been reading the test results and found this very intresting. Thank you for sharing Martinius.
Polyethurane Clearcoat and boat building ! Flashlight. I wanna share some experiences. In the harbours here at the fresh water fjord we have a lot of wooden boats. Most owners use the polyutherane clearcoat. Every 3 years in between next stroke they are working hard sanding everything down wich takes lot of time and efford. When you first start using these products you simply have to continue using those. The older fisherman up north use the tar/linoil product inside and outside to preserve the planks as they have there boats out in the salt water ocean all year through as they refinish there boats once every 10 years plus/minus. Using a rubber matt is a very smart idea to protect against hard weather/acid conditions and helps a lot to keep the original wood patina and color. As soon the sun , water or ice gets hold on the varnish the wood patina and surrface conditions are starting braking down the wood structures. Thanks Martinius.
~or~ Just toss in a slab of plywood over the rotted and collapsed (it hurt when I fell through) original pine boards and toss it full of crap & go back to work .
Martinius...Here in the USA we have the 5P's (PPPPP), Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance (6p's). You can tell a good Captain by how he stores his ship. I never let my Clear coat get to the point it needs scrapping and sanding, Just a quick go over with some steel wool to get the next coat some adherence and no dust, sand, bugs. That I do by hand not eyes. When it is starting to look like the coat is thin and losing its gloss. West Marine sells a few different brands of Marine Poly, also Marine Spar Varnish if you prefer. I also use Sikken's Products (Cetol), they are supposed to breathe the wood naturally. In my experience...spanning hundreds of years, they all last about the same. My truck does stay garaged, so yes my bedwood is now 5 years since first finish and looks as good today as then. Remember in the Air Force we say...Flexibility is the key to Air Superiority??? Martinius, I put in the part about the Sikkens because its made in Denmark (I think). I used it on my Sailboat on Lake Meade in Las Vegas desert. It held up pretty well too!
Find someone who milled up some Hedge wood~ long as they cut it on the cusp of a new moon, it'll last forever as is! ;^) Looks purdy, too! Here in Kansas, Hedge has been used as fence posts, forever. makes good bedwood, also...
Hedge Beautifull structure and colors it has indead. This material is very flexible , water comes out easely when drying it carefully so it does`nt crack. But this wood like any soft wood product absorbses water easely to. Good choice Zig!
Everyone has a secret family recipe for treating wood, however if you want to see what an intense investigation reveals check this out: http://www.mar-k.com/wood_finish_testing_ii.html
Great Link! I know this has been bounced around a bunch here, but this really lets you know what you're in for, as far as finishes go. The think I wonder about is, what if the top finished is brushed on instead of sprayed? I wonder if they would have lasted a bit longer? I know how much longer paint lasts on a house if it is brushed on, as opposed to being sprayed on... Hey, paint sounds good, however. Red boards to match the red on my truck, and then some yellow/white lettering about the CHIEFS... I'm liking it!!!
