Putting
on a second coat
29
April 03:
It strikes me that I'm almost done with the Quark project.
I put on the second top coat of yellow Interlux Brightside
paint today and another coat on the trim and the interior.
We're planning a launch for the coming weekend.
The interior coat of equal amounts
of linseed oil and turpentine will take a lot longer.
The mantra is this: One coat a day for a week, one coat
a week for a month, and one coat a month for a year. I
first encountered this mixture as a way of rejuvenating
wood. A friend gave me a gallon of the stuff that he had
left over after attacking some aging paneling for a client.
I made a pair of end tables a few years ago and used linseed
oil and turpentine instead of polyurethane varnish. It
is still good, and the finish is low gloss -- almost no
gloss -- and the grain is well defined. No need for any
wood stain, which I never use if I am the one who is deciding
what the finish should be. Last year, I read a letter
in Messing About in Boats from a guy who used the mixture
on the interior of a dink that he stored in his leaky
barn for the winter while he went off to Florida or somewhere.
When he returned, he found the dink full of water but
with no lasting harm. He credited the linseed oil and
turpentine mixture. Another plus is that the turpentine
cleans the surface that it is applied to, so there is
no need to worry about dust or sawdust that you might
have missed in prepping the surface.
I
attacked the double paddle with the sander today, too,
and put on a coating of varnish. By the way, when I say
varnish, I mean Pettit high-build spar varnish, which
I get from ClarkCraft. The paddle is much stronger because
of the fiberglas tape I put on the other day, and I'm
satisfied that it is the best paddle I could have made
in the 10 hours I spent on it.
Time
spend so far:
Add 11 hours of paddle-making and painting yesterday and
today, for a total so far of 64 hours.
Cost
so far: Add $10 for Interlux Brightside paint
(I used about a half pint that I had on hand; it costs
about $22 per quart) for a total so far of $211.12.
