TOPIC:

I am keen to restore my 1969 Alb to a beautiful glassy varnished finish and have been researching as much as I can on the CVRDA website. They rightly say that when you remove old varnish which has been applied with thinners, you don't really ever see any evidence of the thinned varnish penetrating the wood to provide protection from the inside.

So my current thinking is to apply a saturant first (something like Deks Olje 1) and then apply a traditional hard varnish in layers on top of that before polishing....

anyone have any experience of this sort of thing or thoughts on the subject?

If you can strip back to bare wood and sand lightly to leave a nice wood only finish, you can start with a well thinned varnish, but I think the way fotward is to use a coating epoxy first, applied in as warm an environment as possible. This thins the epoxy and ensures it soaks in and protects the ply. Sand this back using a block where possible. Use a 280 or 320 grit to give a good key. Then apply 2 pack varnish, follow the manufacturers guidance but try to get a good build up over about 5 coats
. Unless you are able to create a proper dust free environment you will need to consider either getting your last coats sprayed on, or letting the varnish harden for a couple of weeks, then cutting back with 1500 and 2000 grit before polishing with a suitable compound.

Thank you , so an epoxy penetrates the would....I thought (though have never used them) that an epoxy is a sealant.

But if it goes right in that sounds like a good idea - I'll be working on the boat inside a big tent , so it should be fairly dry and still,

with regards spraying the last couple of coats, I think that will be a little beyond me, unless anyone can assure it is simple enough for a budding cassic boat owner??

It will only soak into the surface and protect it, but this is what works best, the boat is made from ply which is glued together, Anything which soaked into this would probably make repairs very difficult and add a lot of weight.

Unless the boat is 100% dry then epoxy and two pack varnish is sealing in any damp which then causes rot, hence one pack is recommended for older boats.
G4 sealant would penetrate as you wish and then a traditional varnish can be applied on top. Just search G4 on cvrda website for lots of information on it!

Hmm that's useful and obvious when you think about it... thank you. So I can't with certainty say the woodwork will be 100% dry.. Therefore for a fine varnish finish (though this changes daily) my thoughts are to go for a D1 or Ronseal woodhardener (which I couldn't find in b&q yesterday) to penetrate and allay my paranoia of old wood rotting even if it is sound and top that with Epiphanes...
Any thoughts - I really need to make a decision and stop the hours of evening conversation with Mrs QXSME about varnish!