What clear coat to use for wooden handle?
- Thread starter Stefan H
- Start date
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Bruce
TVWBB 2-Star Olympian
I am with jon, however, I will mention that several have used Spar on the wood shelves and that one slat closest to the grill box gets pretty dang hot at times and I have yet to hear of a failure. The area right where the end of the handle mounts to and touches the lid end caps might have an issue, but I do not think it will show. You could go with a high heat spray clear coat, but I am not sure that will provide the look you want. You might try preparing a small piece of cedar and then spray it and see how it looks. Otherwise, I have a hand made cedar handle and I used Teak Oil for weather protection. It doesn't give it a nice gloss shine, but it doesn't melt or burn either.
J Grotz
TVWBB Wizard
I know most people here use spar varnish on their wood handle and slats. The glossy look is beautiful. But it looks like so much work. And when it fails (and every outdoor finish option fails at some point), all of it has to be removed and started over. I watched what happened to a spar varnish finish applied to an outdoor dining table by the Wood Whisperer on youtube. The finish didn't last and rather than redo it, he cut up the table and used the most of the wood on an outdoor coffee table. He used a non-sealant oil on the coffee table. I had a teak set for many years that I kept looking new with teak oil in the mostly dry sunny SoCal climate. So I'm going to try the oil the Wood Whisperer used, Osmo UV protection oil.
https://osmocolorusa.com/product/uv-protection-oil/
I'm hoping to finish my Genesis 1000 restoration before Super Bowl and will post a build thread when I'm done.
https://osmocolorusa.com/product/uv-protection-oil/
I'm hoping to finish my Genesis 1000 restoration before Super Bowl and will post a build thread when I'm done.
Kyle in Woodstock
TVWBB Guru
Stefan
Let us know what you end up using. I'm building a wood bottom panel for my 2009ish Genesis, and I'm undecided on my stain and/or clear coat
Let us know what you end up using. I'm building a wood bottom panel for my 2009ish Genesis, and I'm undecided on my stain and/or clear coat
Brian B Atlanta
TVWBB Gold Member
There is an alternative which is what I used and love the look of the spar but really did not want to put the effort in and deal with doing it over down the road. T
I use a behr semi deck stain for them as I wanted some color and of course as you know there are going to be variations in the colors that is just a wood thing. I used the redwood natural stain. I had bought a qt way overkill they sell 8 oz samples so 2 would have been way more than you need just mix them in a container when you get home so the color is uniform it was 15 something for a quart but I could have done all the slats with plenty left over with 2 cans of the sample for less then 8 bucks. Should be 5 or 6 years before they need anything.
My 1000 is now 2 1/2 years old still the wood looks great and no issues with the handle because of heat.
https://i.imgur.com/EhahqJh.jpg
https://www.homedepot.com/p/BEHR-Pr...terior-Wood-Stain-and-Sealer-507704/310902590
Jon Tofte
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Brian,
That looks great. I think your alternative is a very valid one. I have redwood from a very old Broilmaster that I have been trying to decide what to do with. I had considered something like what you did, but now I think I will look harder at going that route. Gloss spar is beautiful, too. I guess time will be the telling point on how long either one really holds up.
That looks great. I think your alternative is a very valid one. I have redwood from a very old Broilmaster that I have been trying to decide what to do with. I had considered something like what you did, but now I think I will look harder at going that route. Gloss spar is beautiful, too. I guess time will be the telling point on how long either one really holds up.
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Bruce
TVWBB 2-Star Olympian
Minwax. I didn't want to spend $30 for one of the boutique brands.
I have to part with it. I still have to decide if I will keep the SS Genesis Platinum. But, when it comes to selling this grill, like some of the other special grills, I will put a price on it and sit on it as long as it takes.
I have to part with it. I still have to decide if I will keep the SS Genesis Platinum. But, when it comes to selling this grill, like some of the other special grills, I will put a price on it and sit on it as long as it takes.
!Bob Walters
TVWBB Member
Here's what I know about clear coatings on wood after fooling around with boats for many years.
Any clear coat is more difficult to apply and maintain than paint and, as you might imagine, the prep work ahead of time is more tedious too. Varnish, in all it's variations, is subject rapid deterioration from sunlight and by the fact that varnish isn't waterproof. Moisture traveling through the layer of varnish, in and out of the wood substrate, causes deterioration. Buying better varnish with more UV protection will help as will applying more coats. Of course that means more money and time.
One viable option, and one I try to use on all my marine brightwork ("brightwork on a yacht means varnished wood, not polished brass") is to first coat the wood with a high quality clear epoxy which IS waterproof. That provides an ideal base for varnish and will make the finish last at least five times as long. The problem is that clear epoxy which will flow out as a nice coating, as opposed to the kind of epoxy you might use as an adhesive, is expensive and it's a bit of a PITA to apply and has it's own clean up procedure.
Epoxy is generally not very UV resistant, so you must over-coat it with a vanish-like product with good UV protection. If you let that surface go to Hell, the underlying epoxy will eventually turn cloudy and stripping epoxy is really labor intensive. Don't kid yourself. An epoxy clear coat covered by 5 or 6 coats of varnish will demand a huge amount of sanding, but the resulting finish will be long lasting and spectacular looking, although some yachtsmen will argue that it looks "too plastic".
If you're interested in a beautiful finish, over epoxy or over bare wood, sand and re-coat that finish BEFORE it shows any sign of deterioration other than a slight dulling of the finish. Of course, the best thing you can do to make your clear finish last is to keep it covered up and that's much easier to do with a grill than a boat.
So if you love fiddling around with things like a nicely finished wooden grill handle/table AND you're willing to spend the (considerable) time and money to maintain it, then go with something like West 207 Special Clear Hardener and 105 Epoxy Resin covered with Epifanes clear marine spar varnish. You'll invest quite a bit of money and a LOT of time, but the results will be jewel like and, if you cover your grill, the clear handle/table parts will last a long time.
But if it were me, I'd just sand the wooden parts and slap on a few coats of ordinary varnish, show off my handiwork to my buddies, keep the grill covered, and put off refinishing until the parts started pealing and looking really crappy. Then I'd strip the varnish-only finish using a chemical stripper, sand a little bit, and re-coat with cheap varnish. The wow factor with this method will be low, but so will the cost and the effort and the parts will look OK for at least a while right after you apply the finish.
Any clear coat is more difficult to apply and maintain than paint and, as you might imagine, the prep work ahead of time is more tedious too. Varnish, in all it's variations, is subject rapid deterioration from sunlight and by the fact that varnish isn't waterproof. Moisture traveling through the layer of varnish, in and out of the wood substrate, causes deterioration. Buying better varnish with more UV protection will help as will applying more coats. Of course that means more money and time.
One viable option, and one I try to use on all my marine brightwork ("brightwork on a yacht means varnished wood, not polished brass") is to first coat the wood with a high quality clear epoxy which IS waterproof. That provides an ideal base for varnish and will make the finish last at least five times as long. The problem is that clear epoxy which will flow out as a nice coating, as opposed to the kind of epoxy you might use as an adhesive, is expensive and it's a bit of a PITA to apply and has it's own clean up procedure.
Epoxy is generally not very UV resistant, so you must over-coat it with a vanish-like product with good UV protection. If you let that surface go to Hell, the underlying epoxy will eventually turn cloudy and stripping epoxy is really labor intensive. Don't kid yourself. An epoxy clear coat covered by 5 or 6 coats of varnish will demand a huge amount of sanding, but the resulting finish will be long lasting and spectacular looking, although some yachtsmen will argue that it looks "too plastic".
If you're interested in a beautiful finish, over epoxy or over bare wood, sand and re-coat that finish BEFORE it shows any sign of deterioration other than a slight dulling of the finish. Of course, the best thing you can do to make your clear finish last is to keep it covered up and that's much easier to do with a grill than a boat.
So if you love fiddling around with things like a nicely finished wooden grill handle/table AND you're willing to spend the (considerable) time and money to maintain it, then go with something like West 207 Special Clear Hardener and 105 Epoxy Resin covered with Epifanes clear marine spar varnish. You'll invest quite a bit of money and a LOT of time, but the results will be jewel like and, if you cover your grill, the clear handle/table parts will last a long time.
But if it were me, I'd just sand the wooden parts and slap on a few coats of ordinary varnish, show off my handiwork to my buddies, keep the grill covered, and put off refinishing until the parts started pealing and looking really crappy. Then I'd strip the varnish-only finish using a chemical stripper, sand a little bit, and re-coat with cheap varnish. The wow factor with this method will be low, but so will the cost and the effort and the parts will look OK for at least a while right after you apply the finish.
Dave in KC
TVWBB Wizard
Bob, thanks for that lesson. Good advice to know.
Brian B Atlanta
TVWBB Gold Member
Bruce great job with the spar.
Jon that was the oak you did correct how is it holding up in FL?
Jon that was the oak you did correct how is it holding up in FL?
Jon Tofte
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Hey Brian,
So far it is fine. I keep it outside but under a Weber cover. I can tell the spar urethane isn't as solid as it originally was, though. Maybe a good idea - if time miraculously appears - would be to do a thorough cleaning now and put on a couple more coats before I have to redo everything. When I did that kettle handle, I laid it on thicker because I knew how much abuse it would have to take. On my next oak project, which will be light instead of dark, I plan to do that with heavier coats of spar as well.
As I mentioned, I hope to experiment on my redwood Broilmaster pieces. Mine are slats like Weber used rather than the even older single pieces Bruce showed. What I have now is bone dry and has a red tint with little grain showing. I see merit in your deck sealer idea, but I also like how Bruce's came out very much. Will post whenever I finally get to it...
Bruce
TVWBB 2-Star Olympian
Jon, I have a feeling that when you sand down those slats, you will find they will lighten up a lot. I think that BM put some redwood type stain on them at the factory. As you can see from my before and after pictures, mine came out much lighter, but the Spar even darkened up a LOT from how it was just after sanding.