reparing wood finish

[Dan Corcoran]

I have some water stains on my nav station seat and a significant wearing away of the finish on my top stair.

Any advice for renewing the finish?

Sand and apply Epifanes, or does the old faded varnish need to be removed?

[Mvallus]

Unsure if sanding and refinishing would work on severely water stained areas (deeply dark areas). Minor fades should not be a problem though. Just be very careful to not sand too deep or aggressively on laminated areas (laminates are thin). Refinished my stair(s) last spring (and wood handrails). Epifanes can be tricky, but the results are really nice if you put in the time to sand between coats, clean thoroughly, and properly thin. Definitely use the Rubbed Effect (thinned maybe 10-15%). Removing the pieces to be varnished and taking them home to a more temperature controlled environment helps significantly.

[Dan Corcoran]

That looks so pretty!

I have no dark areas, just light areas

[Dan Corcoran]

Did you use Epifanes Gloss to first build up?

[Dan Corcoran]

rubbed effect only comes as interior gloss, this is ok for wood exposed to the outside often?

[Dan Corcoran]

Pictures, all advice welcome

[Vento Solare]

I believe the companionway steps are cherry as is the rest of the interior.  I would sand carefully and use oxalic acid to remove stains, then rinse with fresh water and let dry completely. Don't use a cheap brush.  Get a good quality china bristle brush and comb it out. Start thinning the Epifanes  about 20% varnish 80% thinner for a couple of coats so it penetrates the wood and let the initial coats dry thoroughly.  Light sand between coats using 400 grit paper, wipe down with thinner and tack cloth between each coat. Then start building up coats increasing the ratio until you are at 80% Epifanes, 20% thinner. 

[Mvallus]

Dan,

Yes, I did build-up with a few coats of the gloss (thinned about 20%). I find the interior Epifanes to be just fine for higher traffic areas. If done right, it sets up quite hard and provides a nice protective finish.

[Dan Corcoran]

Thank you men, I feel I now have a great way forward.

Last Question, do I have to sand everything including the areas underneath the steps that look well, or should it all blend well with some luck?

[TSweather]

You will have to sand any surfaces that you want varnish to stick to, though I didn't bother with the underside of the bottom two steps and just taped them off. As for the colors and blending, my re-finished top step came out exactly like Mvallus's above. Pretty sure that the steps on our boat are teak with some cherry glaze stain over them as once I started sanding it smelled exactly like teak and the color got darker. It retained that slightly darker appearance after using the exact same gloss Epiphanes to build up before a final coat of their "rubbed effect" varnish. The color blends fine on the steps as the undersides you never really see in sunlight.

The only place where your color may not blend exactly would be that nav station seat. That I agree with others is a cherry veneer that should blend as long as you don't sand all the way through the thin veneer. Personally I might choose a clear satin finish polyurethane for the nav station seat as long as the cherry retains it's color after sanding. Clear polyurethane tends to add less amber color than Epiphanes does. The true value of varnish is worth it on the steps where they are constantly getting wet, sandy, and walked on, though polyurethane can get a much cleaner finish with less effort for other interior detailing.

Seems like others also took the time to tape off the rubber tread material instead of removing it, which is wise as it was stratospherically expensive at last check. Far more pricey than similar options from Seadek, which I may eventually replace it with.

[Dan Corcoran]

I removed the tread, need to find the replacement, what product is it?

[Vento Solare]

Lewmar Treadmaster