Varnishing

[beeong]

I am building my very first board, and I apologize for what may be trivial questions: after cutting out my deck, am I supposed to apply 1 layer of varnish, let it dry, paint the design, then apply another layer of varnish?

OR

Am I supposed to dry 2 layers first, then put the paint on the outside of the second layer?

Also, how long will it take for a layer of varnish to dry? I can only work for maybe 3 hours on my deck at a time, once a week, so I want to know if I can get the second layer on before those 3 hours are up.


If your respond to my post, please answer both questions.

Thankyou

[Loki440]

I am building my very first board, and I apologize for what may be trivial questions: after cutting out my deck, am I supposed to apply 1 layer of varnish, let it dry, paint the design, then apply another layer of varnish?

OR

Am I supposed to dry 2 layers first, then put the paint on the outside of the second layer?

Also, how long will it take for a layer of varnish to dry? I can only work for maybe 3 hours on my deck at a time, once a week, so I want to know if I can get the second layer on before those 3 hours are up.


If your respond to my post, please answer both questions.

Thankyou

you want to put enough on so you just seal the wood then can give it a light sand afterwards, one coat is fine but 2 is to be safe

[silospen]

Paint then varnish is the way I do it. Each to their own I guess.

Drying time all depends on the varnish, the air temperature. It can take 24 hours, it can take 7 days.

Here's a quick piece of advice for while you're painting it, you can make a home made drying rack if you don't already have something like this.

Get a scrap few small pieces of wood, 2 inch squared or so. Get 4 of em. Get 12 shortish thin nails. Bang 3 into each piece of wood so they're in a triangle pattern.

Now you should be able to varnish one side, wait about an hour till it dries a little, flip the board over, place one wood+nails in under each corner of the board (will the nail tips upwards) and put the board on top of it. Now you can varnish the other side! The nails should leave any visible marks on the surface, since they're just the tips.

I find that save a lot of time while varnishing.

[beeong]

Paint then varnish is the way I do it. Each to their own I guess.

Drying time all depends on the varnish, the air temperature. It can take 24 hours, it can take 7 days.

Here's a quick piece of advice for while you're painting it, you can make a home made drying rack if you don't already have something like this.

Get a scrap few small pieces of wood, 2 inch squared or so. Get 4 of em. Get 12 shortish thin nails. Bang 3 into each piece of wood so they're in a triangle pattern.

Now you should be able to varnish one side, wait about an hour till it dries a little, flip the board over, place one wood+nails in under each corner of the board (will the nail tips upwards) and put the board on top of it. Now you can varnish the other side! The nails should leave any visible marks on the surface, since they're just the tips.

I find that save a lot of time while varnishing.

Thanks for the advice, silospen.