Hello Comander owners. I am new to boat ownership and am working to revitalize Fancy. i have started to sand the upper cabin and have noticed that the mahogany ply and the solid pieces have different colors once sanded. I do want to have a balanced look and really don't know if i should stain first or what to do. turning to this forum to help me. hoping this is the best place to get this information.
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Your boat your choice. The Admiral prefers a different color mahogany than used on ours. The great news is, it's a 68 and has old tech wood and not next year's high tech plastic. Welcome aboard.
Timtation FXA350030H
Contact Sandusky paint and varnish. Sandusky Ohio. They have all original formulas and can help you decide. Good luck
Not to worry about the colors .
If you'd like get them closer in color
You can always use some wood bleach.
However minor color differences will not be much of an issue once stained.
Here's a bunch of photos of the process .
That was fast and thank you Timothy, Sterling and Jeremy . The pictures were informative in many ways. i am reserching all my options but leaning to varinsh with out staining.
To be clear I'm not saying you shouldn't use stain and sealer first before varnish.
The stain will greatly help in making your color from part to part look much more uniform
I'll second Jeremy's statements on the minor color differences. They shouldn't be a big issue once you've stained/varnished. I have stripped (or replaced when necessary), sanded, stained, and varnished every bit of wood on our 1967 42 Commander. There were time when the wood looked a bit different in color, but in the end I only recall one time when I used a second coat of stain to get the wood to more closely match. Other than that, the subtle differences are not glaring... just a product of wood being wood.
Chris
my thought was to use Rapid Coat which has a light tint to it . i am just leary of stain it seems so dark and also i am not that experenced.
My 1968 35's mahogany was finished in "Golden Walnut"... not sure what yours originally was, but I know you can still get the original stain - I believe from Sandusky (mentioned earlier). I wasn't refinishing the whole boat, so I wanted to keep it matched to what it was. it was spot on...
On my 1967 42, I purchased a boat that was covered in white paint. The orignal stain that remained on the cabin stairs, and hidden under my aft stairs was a muddy brown that was not all that attractive. I stripped and sanded it all, and ended up where you are... naked wood. From there, I went with a cherry color. It's scary, but in the end, it works out... Maybe these pictures will help you visualize...
ABOVE: When we bought it...
ABOVE: Sanded... Ready (sort of, lol) for stain.
ABOVE: Stained, and first coat of varnish...
ABOVE: Mostly (it's never really entirely) finished product.
C.
dam that looks fantastic Chris, do i need to seal the stain before varnishing ? and what color stain did you use ? thank you for the help M
I'd go with some recommendations from Jeremy (he's a real professional and his work is out of this world)... but...
I used a filler stain made by a company that is unfortunately no longer in business (Velvit Oil). I used a shade call "Warm Cherry." I am looking for a replacement for our aft stairs I am working on now, and also for the helm area headliner trim that I'll hopefully start working on this year. But... my steps were as follows for the interior...
Stripped
Sanded (Mostly 180 grit, but where I had to work paint out of the fibers of the wood, I started with 80, being careful not to get too crazy on the plywood - the old stuff is thick, but still, you don't want to burn through it).
Stained - using the filler stain.
1st coat varnish - Epifanes clear gloss - thinned 50% with Epifanes thinner.
2nd coat varnish - Epifanes clear gloss - thinned 25% with Epifanes thinner
Sand (hand sanded with a larger sized surface (I used 3M sandpaper - it's purple, and does not clog easily from the varnish - 120 grit)
3rd coat varnish - Epifanes clear gloss - thinned about 10% with Epifanes thinner
Sand - 120 grit, use a tack cloth to wipe down - you'll start to see that your sanding will leave a mostly "white" surface... to show you easily that your surface is starting to get smooth.
4th coat varnish - Epifanes clear gloss - thinned about 10% with Epifanes thinner.
Sand - 220 grit, tack cloth
5th coat varnish - Epifanes clear gloss - thinned about 10% with Epifanes thinner.
Sand - 220 grit tack cloth
6th coat varnish - Epifanes Rubbed Effect - not thinned. This left me with a non-gloss satin finish. I really like this look (my dad did it in my parent's 38 Commander and I like the "soft" look of it. One coat usually worked fine .. In some instances, I needed a second coat of it (no sanding in between), but usually a single coat was just fine.
6/7 coats of varnished worked well for me, and after about 12/13 seasons now, and varying degrees of sunlight, I can say that the Epifanes varnish has held up great... it looks the same as it did when I put it on. Epifanes has a good content of UV inhibitors in it. You'll have a lot of opinions on varnishes, stains, etc... read comments do some research, and pick what you are comfortable with.
Oh, for anything exterior, skipped the Rubbed Effect Epifanes, and just went with full clear gloss... although I've had some frustration with dust - Jeremy has told me (and probably this year I will attach my aft seating table) to sand it down with a high grit paper and go at it with compound and a buffer.
Hope this helps, but for sure I'm not a pro... I did what worked for me, and I tried to do the best job I can, keeping in mind that we want to use the boat, not show it - and I don't want to freak out if something get scratched... although a nice thing about wood and varnish... it can be fixed fairly easily. Take what I've provided... ask others, and as you go you'll see what works best for you!
Chris