Best finish for heart pine table in screened in porch.

Jim Adams

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10
Location
Central SC
This table was built about three years ago. It was finished with several coats of Gloss Poly. It is time to repair the finish and I am interested in finding a finish that will last longer. Please advise, moving the table inside out of the weather and moisture is not an option). Thanks
 
This table was built about three years ago. It was finished with several coats of Gloss Poly. It is time to repair the finish and I am interested in finding a finish that will last longer. Please advise, moving the table inside out of the weather and moisture is not an option). Thanks

I'm surprised poly lasted three years. Weather exposure must not be too severe for it to last that long.

I'd recommend stripping the poly off and using a good quality marine varnish on it. My preference is Epifanes. It's pricey, but is the best I've found.

BTW, welcome aboard as a new member. We look forward to seeing pictures of your work!
 
This table was built about three years ago. It was finished with several coats of Gloss Poly. It is time to repair the finish and I am interested in finding a finish that will last longer. Please advise, moving the table inside out of the weather and moisture is not an option). Thanks

I'm surprised poly lasted three years. Weather exposure must not be too severe for it to last that long.

I'd recommend stripping the poly off and using a good quality marine varnish on it. My preference is Epifanes. It's pricey, but is the best I've found.

BTW, welcome aboard as a new member. We look forward to seeing pictures of your work!
 
I recently read up on some testing done by one of the woodworking magazines some years ago (I think someone here made me aware of it) regarding outdoor finishes. It was non-scientific, basically finishing a few boards and leaving them out in the elements for a year or two. The finish that beat out all the others was oil based exterior deep paint base. This is the base used for the darkest colors. You don't want any tints, of course, just the base. You likely won't find it in the big box store as they have all but given up selling oil base paints, but you can find it at Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, etc. Did I mention that the deep base dries clear with a slight amber tint, just like varnish?

I was going to use it on a mahogany exterior door, but we decided to sell the door instead as it did not go with the style of our home.
 
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I agree the true marine spar varnish is very hard to beat, but like Jim said, it's expensive. It also takes quite a few coats to get a good build for max protection. But I've used the untinted paint that Rennie mentioned, and got very good results; long life, nice appearance, and quite a bit less expensive. Here's the article that turned me onto this trick if you think it might be of interest. Be aware, it's a little dated...and oil based finishes are getting harder to find. But I just did pick up a can of SW All Surface oil based exterior (they call it "ultra deep base" now) for my next effort, it looks a little milky in the can but dries to look much like an oil based varnish. I had previously used the Olympic product, but can't find the oil based version any more. Interestingly enough, some of the outdoor acrylic (waterborne) exterior paints (like SW A100) in the deep color base seem to work as well, though I don't have long term experience with them just yet. Anyway, one other point...whatever you choose skip anything "poly". Like Jim, I'm surprised what you did lasted this long, they just aren't good outdoors. BTW, that SW product I referred to is stock #6403-25775 (gloss), the first store I asked had no idea what it was (the guy asked his Iphone about it :rofl:, Siri admitted she didn't know anything about it either). The second store I took the stock number with me, it was normally about $23/qt.
 
Thank you for your reply. The information was helpful. Have not decided yet what I will do but your suggestion has steered me in the right direction.

Thanks again.
 
I printed out the article you said turned you on to clear paint base. I am deciding between marine spar varnish and the SW you mentioned. Thanks again.
 
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