Hi,
I bought a Traveller in germany with rotten wood. Now that I ordered new wood in Great Britain , I was wondering, if I could NOT paint it , but oil it (after I drowned my cellar in wood preserver including the wood fpr the traveller). Did any one try only oiled wood in the british club. I asked the guys in german mm club, but I got different answers. One said no problem, just oil it twice a year and you´ll be happy. Another one said dont oil it, paint it. I´d be pleased with an answer from a country, where rain and the traveller are not really unknown
mnzmrk
The only oil I would recommend would be a dilute mix of linseed oil and white spirit on NEW timber. If you have the timbers off the vehicle immerse them for as long as possible in the mix. You can re coat the timbers with a soft cloth soaked in the same mix as often as you like, although you need to ensure that they are clean before hand and allow a couple of hours to dry before venturing out onto dirty dusty roads.
I the timbers are existing, marked but sound you could paint with a microporous wood stain to lift the colour, if they have been previously varnished and are in good order, keep on varnishing using a good quality Yatch varnish NOT polyurethane as this just lays on the surface like cling film and allows the wood to sweat and rot underneath!
Thanks a lot. What exactly is white spirit ? I know linseed, but this spirit thing is a bit difficult to understand for a german like me (sorry).
Again thank you
markus
White spirit is a product of crude oil, Turpentine is the natural stuff, which is hard to find. I would automatically say paint thinners because in the UK predomanantly we still use oil based paints, but I know in Germany most domestic paints are water based so I don't want to see you rushing off and using cellulose or some such like.
I should get some turpentine somewhere in a Paint shop. HOw much oil and how much turpentine do I use ? 50:50 ? And which way do you think si the best, varnish or oil ? Oil prevents me from making the painted wood rough, when It needs to be done the second time (the word for putting paper with a rough surface on wood and pushing it right and left is not in my head, sorry) and is much easier to apply, I don´t have to save the metal parts from varnish.markus
The word is 'sandpapering' ....rubbing down with sandpaper.
regarding the Linseed Oil treatment I have used this oil on
rifle butts with great success but the process involves much
rubbing by hand and other things which are not really practical
on the traveller wood. The Yacht varnish seems to be the
accepted treatment. If there are dark stains on the wood you
can 'bleach' them out,with care, before applying the varnish.
Willie
You dont have to use sandpaper, wire wool will suffice, or to kill two birds with the proverbial stitch in time?? apply the 50:50 mix with scotch bright.
There are a number of clear micro pourous varnishes out there that would also do the job. I personally would favour one of those, although like the steel work, its all right polishing the brightwork you can see, the rust meanwhile is eating away at the places you cannot reach, at least with a runny mix of linseed/spirit it will permeate down through the joints etc.
