Varnish

[Peterross]

Anyone have any recommendation on the best varnish to use? I'm having a hard time finding anything at the local hardware stores.

Pete

[Steve]

This topic has been gone over a few times before on both this Forum and the Yahoo Group... It is an important topic so here goes with some of the basic pieces...

1) The varnish should seal the wood and that can be be one or two coats applied with a brush...

2) The varnish must have compatibility with the the covering process... It's best to sand where the cover glue is being applied...

3) Leonard uses this varnish material, see Link: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/EaglersNests/conversations/messages/24246

4) I covered with Stits and used the ACS supplied Stits Epoxy varnish AV 400 - a two part system...

5) If I were using the Stewart system  (Latex) I'd find out what varnish they use in their process... 

All the major posters on this forum have commented one time or another on this site about varnish - use the Forum Search tool to locate...

[rockiedog2]

Way back i built an Acrosport 2 and used i think it was Red Devil varnish on the wings. looked beautiful. later on(several years not many probably 4 or 5) i had to recover the lower wings and once the cover was off i found that all the AN hardware in the wing was corroded big time. big time. i got pics here of it. pretty impressive i thought. the plating on the 970 washers was rolled up and peeling off. rusty brown. bolt heads same same. only thing in the wing that wasn't severely corroded were the stainless drag wires and the steel parts that were painted with Stits(now Polyfiber) epoxy primer. the wings were covered in the Stits process all the way thru. i know that didn't do it. the plane was hangared all its life so that wasn't it. only thing left that i can think of was some sort of reaction to the varnish/varnish vapors...all the hardware in the rest of the airframe was fine. well, from that, right or wrong, i quit using hardware store varnish and went to Polyfiber EV400 epoxy and never another problem. IMO you can't beat it...one very thin coat is all that's needed for all the protection your wing will ever need assuming it's hangared. the cost is nothing relative what youre already spending, the stuff works really nice and the fabric glue won't lift it.

[Peterross]

Thanks for the replies.
Right now I am just needing to seal the floorboard, so I do not need to worry about adhesives.
I have not considered the type of adhesive I will use on the wing covering yet. I do plan on using latex paint on the cloth, however.
It appears most spar varnishes are spar urethane, and I didn't know if that was the right stuff. 
I don't know what others have used on the floorboard. Outdoor latex? Spar urethane? Any other ideas?
I guess whatever I end up using, especially for the wings, I need to make sure it does not react with the hardware.

[Sam Buchanan]

I don't know what others have used on the floorboard. Outdoor latex? Spar urethane? Any other ideas?

I used the same stuff as used on the wings, urethane single-stage varnish from a local source. It has held up very well over four summers. Haven't seen any evidence of corrosion in the wings.

[Gabe]

Has anyone on here used Helmsman Spar Varnish? I'm planning on using it, but I'm worried about it reacting with the Polytac fabric glue and/or the latex. I thought I would just run a strip of painters tape over the spar caps before applying the varnish, but I'm worried it will creep under the tape or react negatively at the edges...

[Rich Snyder]

OK, Woodworking. Finally something I can comment on with some authority:. I built a couple of wooden kayaks from plans put out by CLC, (Chesapeake Light Craft). They came out nice and I would highly recommend Epiphanes varnishes. They have awesome UV blockers as proven in tests that I saw conducted by Fine  Woodworking Magazine. Inside the wing I'm not so sure of, if using Polyfiber, But for a floorboard that you want to stay pretty for a long time, go with this with confidence. Your wood will still look like a boats brightwork years from now. Rich

[Bob S.]

Re: Helmsman Spar Varnish, that is what I used on LE 64H and did the same with the tape on the ribs/contact points...Light sanding after varnish then used PolyTac for the covering and have had no issues.

[Gabe]

Thanks Bob. Did you thin the varnish? I bought some mineral oil to thin mine, but I haven't found any suggestions on how much I can thin it down...

[Bob S.]

IIRC I thinned with MEK or Denatured Alcohol...quick evaporation! Not much, maybe 20%...helped with penetration too. Two quick coats.
Taped off w/3/4" tape on inside of nose ply and varnished that too...tape where ribs go and on spar and LE support. THEN coated the areas with Titebond II liberally on attachment over all bare wood inside.