Episode 23 Varnished handrails

It is surprising what a good sanding and varnishing can do to tired woodwork (like my handrails) that has been left to grey and peel in the sun for many years. If there is a lesson here, it is never to throw stuff away because it looks old and tired, especially wood.

(When I say "good", I am referring to a conceptual ideal, rather than my actual efforts).

My handrails certainly looked bad, as illustrated below.

Austral 20 handrails in poor condition

So, I got to work with an orbital sander and 80 grit sandpaper. The trick, I found, was to remove all the greyed wood, which showed up better after the first coat of varnish than before. This made me sand through a couple of first coats of varnish, before I got rid of all the visible grey.

Austral 20 handrails, one before sanding (at rear) and one after sanding.

I applied several coats of varnish, the first being cut with about 20% mineral turps to get good penetration into the timber. As I'd noted earlier, I applied the coats thinly, waited several hours for each coat to harden, then lightly sanded back with 120 grit sandpaper. The new is still not perfect, but is strikingly better than the old.

Of course, the new handrails fitted back nicely onto the cabin top and lined up with the bolt holes to fix them down. A small amount of FixtTech180 applied to the bolt and screw holes ensured that the cabin roof was watertight.

Austral 20 handrails after sanding and varnishing