I have a Chris Craft boat to letter next weekend. Included in the job is relettering the wooden boards on the side of the cabin. These were originally painted with some kind of paint, directly on the bare wood and then varnished over.
I have used paint stripper and then a belt sander to prepare the boards for re-lettering and re-varnishing.
The problem is....the original paint is "etched" into the grain of the wood. There is a noticible "ghost" of the original lettering. I don't want to have to sand the boards down to 3/4 of their thickness to get rid of this "ghost" lettering.
Is there a product that will bleach the paint out of the grain? (I tried household bleach...didn't work)
Posted by Bill Preston (Member # 1314) on :
Dave, check your e-mail.
Posted by Howard Keiper (Member # 1250) on :
Dave.. It depends how agressive you need to be. Don't use chlorene (Clorox) bleaches on wood...use Oxalic acid. You can get oxalic acid in crystal form (which you disolve in water) at any hardware store in the paint section. If you really need to get tough, use two part marine teak cleaner. That will mean doing the whole boat though to keep the relative finish looking the same all over. hk
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Thanks Howard!!!!! Bill e-mailed me about oxalic acid....
But I do have access to teak cleaner easily...This is just 2 wooden boards that screw to the sides of the fiberglass cabin, so "bleaching" is not a problem. I'll give teak cleaner a shot!
Thanks again!
Posted by Bill Biggs (Member # 18) on :
Dave, Oxalic Acid is poisionus, Be careful if you use it. I didn't know you could still use it. I have had good luck with teak cleaner in the past, but like they said it does make the wood different thean the rest of the boat. You might try pine oil if you can keep it soaked long enough it will draw out the pigment. and then there is the chance that teak stain would cover the bleached part to the same or close to the same as it was originally. I personally would let the marina do that part LOL Good Luck Websters: oxalic acid, a colorless, crystalline,poisonus organic acid that occurs in wood sorrel, the leaves of rhubarb, and many other plants, and is produced artificially. It is used for bleaching, removing stains, making dyes and as a reagent, etc. Formula C2H2O42H2O French (Acide oxalique) Bill
Posted by Michael Boone (Member # 308) on :
If you have a woodenboat worker/friend in the area..new sideboards would be easier... Chemical free...and a time saver
Posted by bronzeo (Member # 1408) on :
Dave, Any cheap deckwash should get rid of any natural patinas and refresh to new. It will take a day in the sun to do. It won't however change a paint ghost very well. You might take the board off and put them on face down, and get a better surface. Jack
Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :
Seems like most of the time if you varnish the quarterboards and letter them, and possibly varnish over the lettering, is't so hard to read the ghost.If possible, we always try to flip the board upside down.
