Marine Varnish
Keeping Your Colors Bright
Marine varnish is a thick, oily substance originally created to protect the integrity of wood and paint on sea-faring vessels such as yachts. Over a series of six to ten coats, it creates a thick, clear protective "shell" over the boat's surfaces, protecting them from damage due to harsh air and water conditions. It takes hours or days to completely varnish a boat, depending on the boat's size and makeup, as well as the boat owner's previous varnishing experience.
Marine varnish does an excellent job of maintaining the bright colors and adding a lustrous shine to the painted surfaces of a boat. It can be used for other purposes, as well, one of the most common being the 'sealing' of a painted or carved wooden house number plaque. It is waterproof and highly UV-resistant, making it perfectly suited for protecting any wooden object kept outside of the home.
Why Your House Number Plaque Needs Protection
In most cases, marine varnish is only used on a house number plaque crafted from Australian hardwoods. These types of wood are unique to Australia and thus very expensive elsewhere. Australian hardwoods are noted for their strength and durability, but any wood, left to weather the elements, will suffer some damage; thus the use of marine varnish for protection.
Marine varnish, unlike traditional wood varnish, is dye-free. Its purpose is not merely to enhance the appearance of the wooden house number plaque, but to increase its functional life, preserve its natural beauty, and add an attractive smooth sheen to its surface. A brightly colored hardwood house number plaque with a thick coat of varnish has a lifespan of more than ten years.
How to Apply Marine Varnish
The trick to creating long-lasting protective barriers with marine varnish is in the application. Let's say you've decided to hand-seal your house number sign, not wanting it to get damaged by the extreme temperatures and frequent rainstorms in your area. To start, you'd want to find a strong, thick-handled painter's brush, and spend several hours flicking the bristles to remove dust and washing it in mineral oil. If there's dust in the brush, there will be dust in the marine varnish, and that will show up on your house number plaque.
Once the brush has been prepared, dilute a portion of your marine varnish to about half-and-half with water. This should produce a fairly thin solution. Paint this onto your house sign and let it sit. Modern marine varnish is available in fast-drying solutions, too, which can make this portion of the job much quicker.
When the varnish has "set up", take a rough sandpaper and scrub at your house number plaque for a little while. Every stroke of the sandpaper is creating a 'tooth' for the next layer of varnish to cling to. Having a 'foothold' in the slick surface of the diluted varnish will give your next layer the ability to seal tightly without slipping.
As previously stated, it takes anywhere from six to ten coats to properly varnish wood, including a hardwood house number plaque. Sanding takes place between each coat, and each layer should be less diluted than the one previous, until the final coat is done using straight varnish.
Your home sign will by this time be stunning. Marine varnish brings out the tones in fine hardwoods, such as those used to make your house number plaque, and the color and texture of the painted surfaces will seem to glow beneath their protective shield. Applying the varnish may have been time-consuming, but you'll realize it was time well spent.
Marine Varnish
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