Spar Varnish for finish?

[cmcfalls]

Greetings,

I just returned from a local craft show. I was talking to a man who made and refurbished bamboo fishing rods. As I talked to him he mentioned that he used Spar (or marine) varnish for the finish. He was telling me about the benefits of it on the poles and my mind started wandering to pens. On the poles, it was VERY high gloss and he said it would hold up for a long, long time (water proof and UV protective). I think it is used mainly on boats and other outdoor projects where weather becomes a factor.

Has anyone used it for pens? It seems like it might be a little thick, but I would think if you diluted it down it might make a good pen finish. Just a thought...

Here's a couple of photos of it on boats...see how glossy it is?
http://www.heritagecanoes.com/shop/Shop51010.jpg
http://www.heritagecanoes.com/shop/Shop51128.jpg

And on a picnic table...
http://woodsgood.ca/images/CedarDeckSetTable.jpg

 

[dbriski]

I just used some on some drawers for a boat and the stuff I had was quite thin viscosity. The problem I see is that it takes a long time to cure. It took about a day to dry to the touch and maybe a week before becoming fairly hard, but still didn't seem near as hard as lacqur or poly. The idea of the spar is it is more flexible to move with the swing in mostures likely on the water. It did finish glossy though.

 

[Dario]

As mentioned, Spar varnish is a very slow curing finish. It is very durable as far as I can tell but if you apply it thick...it can take months to cure.

I will choose lacquer over it anytime.

 

[gerryr]

Did the guy who does the cane rods tell you that he puts them in a machine that rotates them at a constant slow speed for several hours after he applies the varnish?

 

[cmcfalls]

I didn't realize the long dry time. I guess it wouldn't be a good choice then. I just took notice of it because of the super-high gloss it had. I thought I had stumbled across something, but I wouldn't want to wait that long on the drying time. Plus, I don't know how you would keep it from running on the pen...

 

[Rifleman1776]

I looked into this once and was advised to consider only the very best spar varnish products on the market. Also, the UV protection is not permanent. If you want to keep your Purpleheart purple, it will for a while but not forever. I wanted to keep my Osage Orange it's natural bright yellow. Won't do it.

 

[RussFairfield]

I have used Waterlox, an oil/varnish finish, on pens, but by a soaking application rather than spending the time with individual coats. I could use thinned spar varnish or any other oil/varnish combination including Watco Danish Oil, and the application and results would be the same.

I plug the ends of the tubes with small corks (I cut my own), then submurge them in the liquid Waterlox for a couple hours to allow saturation of the wood, remove them, wipe off the excess oil, and set them aside to dry for a week. That week could be 3-weeks in cold or damp weather. After that I clean the inside of the tubes with a gun cleaning brush held in an electric hand-drill, and buff them with Tripoli and White Diamond compounds. The finish was fine.

It is not a particularly hard finish, and the oils in the finish will significantly darken the wood. If this is not a problem, try it, you might like it.

 

[dbriski]

I have used danish oil on a few of my pens. Using a squeeze bottle and papertowl applying directly to the blank on the lathe at slow speed, let it soak in and then speed it up and burnish with a paper towel. Then repeat a few more times and it give a "Natural" feel to the wood and a satin sheen.