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Exterior hand rail finishing

7/19/24       
BH Davis  Member

Website: http://www.bhdavis.net

About 10 years ago before retiring from my curved moulding business I ran some 8' straight sections of cypress hand rail. It got installed on covered porch in a wooded area with a southern exposure here in Connecticut. The finish applied was a typical oil based spar varnish. Over the years that varnish has been reapplied a few times.

On the west and north sides of the proch the finish has held up relatively decently. On the south side though it has badly broken down and the cypress is graying where the varnish has completely failed.

In order to restore the railings to their original appearance I'm going to pull them off and run them through the moulder. I'll just take enough material off the top to bring it down to fresh wood.

My concern though is of course the new finish. I'd be interested in hearing what you would use in this situation. A modern water based product? Or perhaps a catalized 2-part finish?

As an aside I'll mention that I recently did a large project where I sprayed Minwax Helmsman varnish and wasn't too thrilled with the product. It sprayed out nicely enough but the buildup was rather weak so the instructions called for 4 to 6 coats. This seemed a bit crazy as there were 3000 lineal feet of beaded fir 3" wide moulding to spray.

Even though I'm retired I still have a full commercial level shop and keep myself busy.

BH Davis

7/20/24       #2: Exterior hand rail finishing ...
Chemmy

Hello BH, I stopped using resin coatings decades ago for any exterior work, except for boats. Since the seventy's I used
Polymerized Tung Oil, Thinning the first coat drastically, and applying it very wet and allowing it to soak in as much as possible..!! Later, I also started adding ultraviolet inhibitors directly to the wood before all playing the oil. At that time there was only one company making this, if interested I will look it up again and let you know the name brand...there may be others out there by now, so you can search and see if that's the case...
After the first thinned out coat I would go to a 3to 1 thickness, then a 50/50 ...75/25... And finally the full strength out of the can with as many coats as needed for the project at hand...each given as much time as necessary to cure and only fine sanding the next to last coat, with 4000 grit micro mesh before the last coat.!!
Time consuming..?? You bethcha..!! Long lasting..easy to repair..
You betcha, owner friendly As to their own maintenance of the work, Absolutely..!!
That's my 1 cents worth of advice....I will save the other in case it becomes necessary.!! Good luck..!!
Chemmy..👍

7/22/24       #3: Exterior hand rail finishing ...
Matt Calnen

Good to hear you’re still keeping busy BH. I don’t think I will ever truly retire either.
Many have said that Minwax Helmsman is not a good exterior finish. I personally have used it on my front door, screen doors, porch ceilings, and most of those face southwest, on a home that sits on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. Heavy wind, sun and snow. 4 years in now and still looks as good as the day I applied it. Unless the formula has changed, I applied three coats as the can specified. The first coat I like to brush on. A boat builder friend once told me that helps push the finish into the grain better than spraying it, and I think there is something to that. After the first coat, I usually spray the next two coats.
One thing to remember, Cypress, or any “soft” wood, when you put a film finish over soft woods, when they get dented or the finish gets compromised, the finish now lets water in through the crack, and holds the water in the wood. It’s much better to use a harder wood like White Oak, or Mahogany for clear finished exterior work. The hardness of the wood helps the finish to not get compromised.
Are there any other environmental factors that might be causing the finish to fail?

7/23/24       #4: Exterior hand rail finishing ...
BH Davis  Member

Website: http://www.bhdavis.net

Thanks guys. Much appreciated.

Chemmy: I will definitely look into the polymerized Tung Oil. I don't mind the work/time involved in getting the build up as you describe.

Matt: the cypress happened to be on the shelf with exactly the size and number of boards needed for the eight railings. The pile was left over from a curved moulding project. Plus it was the look needed for the hand rails. Yes indeed, very soft and delicate. You make a good point on the finish failing and letting moisture into, and thus trapped, in the wood. I hadn't really considered that but I agree it's likely what happened. Once the moisture was under the finish the varnish began to release and peel.

As to other factors I don't think there is anything of significance. It's the two south facing hand rails that took the biggest beating, a significant failure of the finish. The other 6 sections are heavily shaded and not in bad shape so I'm pretty convinced this was sun drying that cracked the finish over time.

By the way, you are correct in your assumption regarding brushing on first coats. Back brushing is standard procedure in the house painting world. You spray a small area and then go back over that section with a brush. When I've done it over the years I've kept the spray gun in one hand and a 4" brush in the other. It makes a big difference in how long the paint job lasts.......assuming proper prep work was done.

BH Davis

8/17/24       #6: Exterior hand rail finishing ...
BH Davis  Member

Website: http://www.bhdavis.net

Chemmy,

Thanks for the suggestion. I went with the Polymerized Tongue oil and am quite pleased with the results. First coat 20% thinned with mineral spirits and then 3 more coats waiting for it to completely dry between applications.

Result is an almost hard shell surface due to the hardening of the oil in the surface of the wood. Nice semi-gloss sheen and a surface that won't peel on me. It should be really easy to maintain every 1 to 2 years with a quick cleaning, sand down and recoat.

The final coat was still a touch rough so after installation I rubbed them down with a heavy fiber terry cloth like towel. Did the trick and balanced out the sheen !!

The Polymerized Tongue oil is from Sutherland Welles Ltd. in Rhode Island.

Thanks again,
BH


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