Spar varnish - is this for boat spars, aircraft wing spars, or both? On Sat, Apr 12, 2014 at 8:07 AM, Ron Mc <bulldog...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I come from a bamboo fly rod background, and we used flexible coatings to > turn fibrous materials into tough composites - spar varnish, and maybe as > exotic as mastic varnish on silk thread wraps or to turn an old silk braid > into a floating fly line. When I made my first twine wrap on a bike, it > was natural for me to coat it with spar varnish. Later wraps, found out > shellac is awesome for this application because twine wraps on a bike don't > need to be flexible - twine it, shellac it, and it's good to go and go. > More than 2 coats would also be a mistake. > > While I haven't tried shellac on cork grips, its use there doesn't make > sense. Take a soft grippy material and put a hard slick exoskeleton on it > - seems to defeat every purpose of a cork grip. > Three years ago, when I put cork grips on my daughter's upright bike, I > used spar varnish and here's the result 3 years later - it's soft and > grippy, and still beads water like a new Ferrari > > > <http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/Raleigh/aaP4110011.jpg> > > > <http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/Raleigh/aaP4110005.jpg> > > That's the good news - now the bad news: you have to be patient, because > it takes 7 days to do this right (hey, it takes a month to mastic-varnish a > silk fly line). You want 5 coats, and wait a day between each coat to let > it soak and cure. You apply thin coats and of course the cork sucks it > right up. Wait a day and apply another. It won't be until the 4th coat > that you can see the cork is sealed and you're apply a build-up. After the > last coat, give it two days to cure, and it will still feel tacky - don't > worry. Take a lint-free cloth and buff it like you're shining shoes. You > will be delighted with the result for years... > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Keep the metal side up and the rubber side down! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
