Ryan McKenna
11-30-2016, 1:21 PM
Good Afternoon,
I am setting out to build a wooden sled for my son for Christmas out of hard maple. This was not my first choice of wood but was the best I could find at my local lumber yard. On the plus side, one of the boards turned out to have a bit of curl in it after I cleaned up the surface. The sled will mainly be used to pull a toddler around for walks during the winter and maybe a bit of downhill when he is older. I do not see it spending more than an hour or two outside a week so I am not sure how much UV protection it will need.
I have tired to find some tips on what finish to use but there is not a lot of information on finishing sleds, and what info is out there is often contradictory. I am hoping people here with more finishing experience can help me out.
Some info that might guide your recommendations:
I am in small town in Canada so I am limited to the finishes I can easily access (i.e. no Waterlox, true marine varnishes, dewaxed shellac (other than flakes from LV))
I will not have much time for finishing before Christmas by the time I complete the build.
I will be finishing in my basement shop
I am not set up to spay
I am considering a few options:
Option#1
Oil finish - BLO or Tung Oil. I know this is not very durable or protective but is renewable and a few back country trekkers that use wood sleds recommend it as they can just refresh the oil every year. I hear tung may or may not be more water resistant but takes longer to cure. Any idea how long it will take to cure to the point it can be used outside? a week or two? or months?
Option #2
Oil and Varnish - Oil to pop the curls in the maple followed by a varnish. I have a unopened can of Minwax Spar Urethan or I can get Cabot Spar Varnish. Would one of these be better over top of the oil?
Option #3
open to suggestions but again I am limited in time and what I can get.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions, I will try to reply to questions as soon as I can but I typically can only get online at lunch.
Ryan
I am setting out to build a wooden sled for my son for Christmas out of hard maple. This was not my first choice of wood but was the best I could find at my local lumber yard. On the plus side, one of the boards turned out to have a bit of curl in it after I cleaned up the surface. The sled will mainly be used to pull a toddler around for walks during the winter and maybe a bit of downhill when he is older. I do not see it spending more than an hour or two outside a week so I am not sure how much UV protection it will need.
I have tired to find some tips on what finish to use but there is not a lot of information on finishing sleds, and what info is out there is often contradictory. I am hoping people here with more finishing experience can help me out.
Some info that might guide your recommendations:
I am in small town in Canada so I am limited to the finishes I can easily access (i.e. no Waterlox, true marine varnishes, dewaxed shellac (other than flakes from LV))
I will not have much time for finishing before Christmas by the time I complete the build.
I will be finishing in my basement shop
I am not set up to spay
I am considering a few options:
Option#1
Oil finish - BLO or Tung Oil. I know this is not very durable or protective but is renewable and a few back country trekkers that use wood sleds recommend it as they can just refresh the oil every year. I hear tung may or may not be more water resistant but takes longer to cure. Any idea how long it will take to cure to the point it can be used outside? a week or two? or months?
Option #2
Oil and Varnish - Oil to pop the curls in the maple followed by a varnish. I have a unopened can of Minwax Spar Urethan or I can get Cabot Spar Varnish. Would one of these be better over top of the oil?
Option #3
open to suggestions but again I am limited in time and what I can get.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions, I will try to reply to questions as soon as I can but I typically can only get online at lunch.
Ryan