Morris Minor Owners Club

The woodwork on my Traveller needs re-varnishing. Has anyone ever gone from varnish to oil finish? How do you do it?

I currently have yacht varnish on, about 12 years old.

cheers,
Neil

If you use the car a lot, oil finish is a nightmare to keep clean, and very high maintenance. You will get loads of opinions on the wood finish to use. For me it's Burgess wood sealer ( 3coats) then three coats of Burgess Topgloss.

Cuprinol and Sikkens are good, but I haven't used them for years, so cannot comment on how good the current product range is.

Yes -I stripped off the horrible varnish my car came with (quite a job) , treated the timber with Cuprinol 5 Star (lots of it - over and over again) and then I applied Teak oil. Every now and then I apply some more. But my car lives indoors and doesn't get out much. Varnish is fine provided water doesn't get into the timber and is then 'trapped' there. Some claim to be micro-porous, but i suspect with several coats any porosity will be lost! The window channels and timber joints are obvious water entry points. I pour Teak oil into the channels and catch the excess that runs out the drain holes. It's very important these are kept clear - even more so with varnish!

My chosen route is Cuprinol 5 star, Burgess woodsealer and then about 10 coats of a quality external gloss varnish. Check weekly for any movement of the wood, ie cracks in the varnish, treat immediately and re varnish. You may need to re varnish once a year, but only when the wood is totally dry.
We have tried Teal oil and Danish oil plus the various supposed Microporous finishes with very poor results.
Its varnish everytime now especially if the car is going to be used reglary in wet conditions.

jonathon wrote:We have tried Teal oil and Danish oil

I've seen the results - believe this man...

"



If you use the car a lot, oil finish is a nightmare to keep clean, and very high maintenance. You will get loads of opinions on the wood finish to use. For me it's Burgess wood sealer ( 3coats) then three coats of Burgess Topgloss.

Cuprinol and Sikkens are good, but I haven't used them for years, so cannot comment on how good the current product range is."

I agree, oil is a VERY bad idea on a regularly used car. I use Sikkens 2-part treatment and it works very well and my car is used a lot and in the rain, and lives outside.

OK thanks all. Think I will stick with the yacht varnish if oil is high maintenance. Yacht varnish has lasted ok since 1989 so it can't be too bad.

I was initially going the oil route then swiftly changed to the varnish option. I have three coats on the car at the moment and still going.

How many costs is considered adequate by the way ? I was intending to put on about four or five.

One good coat should be enough - the problem is water getting in behind the varnish, not surface pentration.

I think one might be a tad skimpy BM. My traveller had 9-10 coats ,flattened off between each coat with 240 grit production paper.
It depends on how good a finish you want I suppose 5-6 might be okay, but one

One GOOD one - don't see the point of piling coat on top of coat ? Unless the first coat 'sinks in' of course. And if it's the 'micro-porous' stuff - then it really should be one coat, or the pores get clogged up!

Like I say its personal preference as to how you want your timber presented. Usung microporous you might only need a coat or two, as its intention is to permit a % of moisture into the wood, in anticipation of it being evaporated out (very seldom happens on a car used in this damp climate)
The purpose of the exterior gloss varnish is to seal the wood, in which case I would suggest 5-6 coats

I would guess that too many coats will give a thick 'overall' coat of varnish and may be more prone to chipping.

I used marine varnish on mine (we have a Chandlers in the village!) as I figured if its good enough for boats then its going to be fine on the Traveller, having said that, my Traveller lives indoors so will be sheltered from the worst of the weather. It has spent the last 22 years outside and this together with no treatment on the wood has taken its toll.

The timber has done well if it's lasted outdoors for 22 years! Of course - it hardly ever rains over on the Fife Coast!

bmcecosse wrote:The timber has done well if it's lasted outdoors for 22 years! Of course - it hardly ever rains over on the Fife Coast!

Up until July this year we used to think we were lucky with the lack of rain. Not so sure now as we seem to get a daily downpour at some point

One GOOD one - don't see the point of piling coat on top of coat ?

Well our chairman did the same as Johnathon recommends<br><br>
And it looks quite reasonable to me.

It certainly does! Doesn't look like a car that spends it's life on the street though.