Does all marine varnish darken the wood?

[deblen]

If you varnish Douglas Fir.Pine,Oak,Maple,etc. it will darken over time-both indoor & outdoor.
My 1953 house is full of D Fir & pine along with maple floors.
All have gone very dark-especially the D-fir trim.
This leads me to believe that there is more to this darkening than just the wood or just the varnish.
If I scrape the varnish off with a cabinet scraper,the varnish flakes are quite yellow. The scraped wood becomes several shades lighter-not white like new-but it does lighten substantially.
I have to suspect it is more varnish darkening than actual wood darkening.

Just a note: Some old carpenters in my area took to adding a touch of white paint to their varnish to combat this darkening & it helps quite a bit.
The resultant color is not a "natural" wood color,as we know it,but it stays light & is a help in interiors that would normally turn very dark (& somewhat gloomy)

Cheers/ Len

[TheThunderbird]

Some people say the best treatment on teak deck is soft brush + plain water.

So,,.... why oiling it!? And why pretending it looking white-clear !?

I see ads sporting clear-looking teak deck, isn't it just fashion!?

[sailingfarmer]

You know it DOES lighten up after a week in the hot dry sun.. but I looked closely at the varnish and a Dixie cup of it looks more like molasses than honey which the olde varnish looked like... all that crappy UV crap I assume... like the newest tomatoes... perfect, unblemished, travel well... but taste like cardboard....

Varnish isn't clear anymore..... it's a shiny UV stain

[Schooner Chandlery]

Originally Posted by TheThunderbird

Some people say the best treatment on teak deck is soft brush + plain water.



So,,.... why oiling it!? And why pretending it looking white-clear !?



I see ads sporting clear-looking teak deck, isn't it just fashion!?

We're talking apples and oranges. Deck=Apples while other teak = oranges.

The white decks are that color because they are washed (maybe daily) with saltwater. All aged clean raw teak is that white color. However most decks are dirty and aren't washed down daily like that.

The other teak that IS varnished or oiled are the bright work like handrails and caprails as well as waterways. That would be where the color of finish material comes into play.



Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[sailingfarmer]

In Panama they use lacquer on window frames (outdoor) made of Spanish Cedar which by the way is in the mahogany family which is a broad leaf tree not a conifer like real cedar... but has similar oils... and remember Panama is a little over 8 degrees from the equator... talk about UV.....

I think the varnish companies have bastardized their products with UV tinting... "Varnish ain't what it used to be...."

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by sailingfarmer

In Panama they use lacquer on window frames (outdoor) made of Spanish Cedar which by the way is in the mahogany family which is a broad leaf tree not a conifer like real cedar... but has similar oils... and remember Panama is a little over 8 degrees from the equator... talk about UV.....

I think the varnish companies have bastardized their products with UV tinting... "Varnish ain't what it used to be...."

Remember when teak and mahogany were dunnage?

[sailingfarmer]

I hope us olde fellers can straighten out these young fellers about the subtle changes that are going on in the world to accommodate 7 billion people without noticing the quality going down just to make room...

There are 2 things you can't buy in life

1. TRUE LOVE
2. A VINE RIPENED TOMATO