I finally have decks cut for the jolly boat (3 years isn't too bad.... About a panel every 5 months). I do not like the pasty brown/honey colour of okoume ply, it completely lacks character. I have dyed some wood close to the original colour (estimated from the underside of the tank decks) and quite like it. Sort of a midpoint between dark cherry and light mahogany, mixed with wild flower honey, overtones of swiss chocolate, with a persistent nose of fall apples (anyone who has mixed aniline dyes will understand that) I am a bit wary about this as the dyed wood takes on some unique subtle but artificial looking hues (orange/red) at certain angles in bright sunlight. I'll try looking at it again after sealing it.
Anyone have any pics of boat decks? Light vs dark? Opinions on dyed wood (I may regret that question). Don't want to create an abomination.
Thanks
Mungo
Deck colour analine dyes
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Bill-Conner
- Posts: 126
- Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2010 3:08 pm
Re: Deck colour analine dyes
On the whole I prefer the look of age which will mean variations across a big panel unless you have solid quality Cuban/Honduras Mahogany in which case you can usually sand it back to new.
You have ply and probably not a quality veneer either so why not just give it a good deep gloss finish and show the age and honourable scars, she is an old lady well preserved and loved and botox is probably not a good idea!
You have ply and probably not a quality veneer either so why not just give it a good deep gloss finish and show the age and honourable scars, she is an old lady well preserved and loved and botox is probably not a good idea!
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Bill-Conner
- Posts: 126
- Joined: Thu Sep 02, 2010 3:08 pm
Re: Deck colour analine dyes
On the whole I prefer the look of age which will mean variations across a big panel unless you have solid quality Cuban/Honduras Mahogany in which case you can usually sand it back to new.
You have ply and probably not a quality veneer either so why not just give it a good deep gloss finish and show the age and honourable scars, she is an old lady well preserved and loved and botox is probably not a good idea!
You have ply and probably not a quality veneer either so why not just give it a good deep gloss finish and show the age and honourable scars, she is an old lady well preserved and loved and botox is probably not a good idea!
Re: Deck colour analine dyes
Thanks
The original decks are long gone. Mostly rotted away. The new ply has very thin surface veneers, I would hesitate to call it ply, more thinly veneered panel. It is all that is available here, even the expensive european plywood has extremely thin surface veneers. I doubt any serious refinishing that involves sanding can ever be done. Bit frustrating considering the cost of a sheet of marine grade plywood.
I searched for wood with "character" and actually tried to replicate as much as possible the patterns of the original wood which had a lot grain (pattern). What I don't like is the bland baby poop colour of modern okoume (gaboon?). The boat is already very honey coloured with the agba, some gentle contrast might be nice visually. Some pics below of dyed wood and a baby poop kayak
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt21 ... /photo.jpg
the upper panel is raw, bottom panel dyed and sealed so the colour will not change with finishing (there are actually 4 tones across the panel, I can see them as I know they are there). They are sitting on a mostly complete badly finished okoume kayak (it is such a wonderful, fun boat it just never gets properly finished). I like that the wood grain comes up in the dyed panel. I quite like the colour 1/3 of the way in from the left or from the right (but a bit red there)
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt21 ... hoto-1.jpg
Same panels at a different light angle (apologies for the exposure it's an ipad pic). Baby poop kayak, the dyed panel is showing red, and raw wood. Some concerns about the colour change at different lighting, it can get a bit "paint" like.
The original decks are long gone. Mostly rotted away. The new ply has very thin surface veneers, I would hesitate to call it ply, more thinly veneered panel. It is all that is available here, even the expensive european plywood has extremely thin surface veneers. I doubt any serious refinishing that involves sanding can ever be done. Bit frustrating considering the cost of a sheet of marine grade plywood.
I searched for wood with "character" and actually tried to replicate as much as possible the patterns of the original wood which had a lot grain (pattern). What I don't like is the bland baby poop colour of modern okoume (gaboon?). The boat is already very honey coloured with the agba, some gentle contrast might be nice visually. Some pics below of dyed wood and a baby poop kayak
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt21 ... /photo.jpg
the upper panel is raw, bottom panel dyed and sealed so the colour will not change with finishing (there are actually 4 tones across the panel, I can see them as I know they are there). They are sitting on a mostly complete badly finished okoume kayak (it is such a wonderful, fun boat it just never gets properly finished). I like that the wood grain comes up in the dyed panel. I quite like the colour 1/3 of the way in from the left or from the right (but a bit red there)
http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt21 ... hoto-1.jpg
Same panels at a different light angle (apologies for the exposure it's an ipad pic). Baby poop kayak, the dyed panel is showing red, and raw wood. Some concerns about the colour change at different lighting, it can get a bit "paint" like.