Details of 1939 Octa Deck, Outwales, Rib Stain

[hopkintoncedar]

Good Morning! Thanks to all for the responses to my questions so far regarding this magnificent craft. I have removed the fiberglass and stripped the varnish, the thread concerning the removal of varnish under the long Octa decks with a modified toilet bowl brush was a brilliant idea! counting broken ribs and calculating planking replacement now. Any suggestions of minwax shades I should be starting with to stain new ribs would be great!

I am going to replace inwales and outwales on this boat, as well as complete some stem repair, I have seen some postings of the bow opened up, so I think I'm ok with inside details of the construction. However, I was wondering if anyone had some nice photos of what the completed deck looks like, showing the inwales and outwales running past, also, details of how the ends of the outwales should look from the side and bow. Thanks! Todd

 

[Mike Heines]

Combining minwax stains to match old finishes

Hi - I had good luck with Minwax Golden Oak combined 50/50 with Minwax Provincial. I was matching new replacement ribs in my '05 OT Sponson to the very aged ribs staying in the canoe. I would suggest that you try out the stain on a piece of cedar before putting it on the in-place rib. Also, the amount of time you let the stain soak in before wiping is critical.

Mike H.

 

[Dan Miller]

I prefer dyes over stains myself. I've been using TransTint dyes (http://www.homesteadfinishing.com/htdocs/TransTint.htm), which can be diluted with alcohol or water. Which ones you use depend on the color of your old wood, but you will probably be able to get by starting with a medium brown, and adding golden brown, honey amber or reddish brown as need be. As with stains, you'll need to experiment with mixing combinations.

The reason I use dyes over stains is that they don't muddy the appearance of the wood. Stains also tend to darken the wood between the growth rings, creating a "negative" affect.

 

[Ed Moses]

Varnish entire interior first, Then stain new wood to match old

Todd,

I'll repeat advice given on this forum earlier that you might have missed. Matching old wood to new can be very difficult as stain will wick into old wood adjacent to the new wood pieces that you do not want color change on. I just finished varnishing and staining a 1917 OTCA following advice to varnish the entire interior first, then make up your stain in varnish concoction and apply over the varnished new wood. Any that slops on adjacent old wood does not wick into the varnished old wood and can be easily wiped off with no color staying on the old wood. The color darkens with each additional coat until you have achieved your desired shade. Try it you'll be amazed at the excellent results. I used golden oak and varnish mixed as well as some straight amber shellac on some pieces that just weren't coloring as I wanted. I amber shellacked the ash decks and the inwales to avoid that white varnished color. Will post some photos when I figure out how to do it.

I must add that I used lots of test pieces of old wood and new wood testing the technique before I set to varnishing the OTCA. It was in this process that I came up with the idea to use amber shellac over unvarnished Ash to get the desired golden hue.

Ed