Long lasting exterior finish for ply sculpture?

[krismusic]

Hi, I have made a large sculpture from ply and would like it to be able to live outside. Any ideas what would be a long lasting coating needing minimum maintanance cycle? I would prefer a matt finish. Any ideas gratefully received.

 

[Tusses]

what kind of ply did you use ?

There is a lot of very poor quality 'exterior' ply about these days.

1st off, you need to keep the water out at all costs. I would suggest drenching it in thinned down exterior varnish/oil and get it to soak up as much as you can get in it !

Second, is the sun, it will grey the ply very quickly. If you dont like grey, then you will have to use some kind of woodstain varnish/oil at some point, to put the colour back in.

 

[krismusic]

what kind of ply did you use ?

There is a lot of very poor quality 'exterior' ply about these days.

1st off, you need to keep the water out at all costs. I would suggest drenching it in thinned down exterior varnish/oil and get it to soak up as much as you can get in it !

Second, is the sun, it will grey the ply very quickly. If you dont like grey, then you will have to use some kind of woodstain varnish/oil at some point, to put the colour back in.

Thank you for the reply. I can confirm what you say about ropey exterior ply. The stuff i used is none to good but I have "veneered" the whole thing in 1.5mm Birch ply. I am after a white finish. I wonder if drenching it in thinned varnish and then going over that with a top coat could be a way forward?

 

[Tusses]

what kind of ply did you use ?

There is a lot of very poor quality 'exterior' ply about these days.

1st off, you need to keep the water out at all costs. I would suggest drenching it in thinned down exterior varnish/oil and get it to soak up as much as you can get in it !

Second, is the sun, it will grey the ply very quickly. If you dont like grey, then you will have to use some kind of woodstain varnish/oil at some point, to put the colour back in.

Thank you for the reply. I can confirm what you say about ropey exterior ply. The stuff i used is none to good but I have "veneered" the whole thing in 1.5mm Birch ply. I am after a white finish. I wonder if drenching it in thinned varnish and then going over that with a top coat could be a way forward?

When you say 'white', do you mean completely white with no wood grain showing ? if so, I'd thing down an oil based paint undercoat, maybe 50/50 and get it soaked in. Maybe phone up a chandler and find out what the wooden boat people use ? If you can keep the water out - i.e. get a finish that wont damage or crack, and maintain it well, then you should be ok.

 

[jasonB]

For a very durable exterior finish look into the marine epoxies, these can be tinted white, West Systems should have something suitable

Jason

 

[Oryxdesign]

Epoxies aren't UV resistant alone. The West system needs to be overcoated to protect it from UV. I think I would consider Awlgrip, it's perhaps awkward to apply but is very durable, from memory I think the Uk agent is in Sputhampton.

 

[krismusic]

Thanks for the thoughts. I had considered the West epoxy. I have used it structurally and it is amazing. Good info about lack of UV resistance though. I wonder if that still applies if the epoxy is tinted. I am after a solid, preferably matt finish. I have looked into boat paint. Apparently they have a five year maintainance cycle which is possibly a bit of a burden to expect a client to take on. A bit more background to what I am trying to achieve. If I could weather proof my sculptures I think that it would open up the possibility of selling them "for the garden." About the only way that most people could realistically accommodate a large piece. Getting them to want to is a whole other ball game! ccasion5:

 

[Tusses]

could you not make the sculpture to make a mold blank ? and make copies from it in GRP ? The colour could be in the gel coat then.

 

[Oryxdesign]

I fitted Awlgrip on my fathers Yacht in 1999. It is now a bit stained but he is halfway through his second circumnavigation, it hasn't peeled off anywhere and still looks pretty shiney.