What finish for exterior handrail?

I'll soon be doing an exterior handrail. I'm wondering
what how best to prepare it, and what to use on it to
achieve a long-lived good look.

The handrail is backbutt select KD, milled to an
elliptical profile. It has a reasonably smooth finish
(i.e: as produced by the profiling machine). Should
I attempt to sand it further by hand?

I was thinking of using several coats of Feast-Watson
Woodshield first, because it comes in various colours and
I want a much darker tone than natural blackbutt.
Then FW Weatherproof (gloss polyurethane) on top.

One thing worries me a little about FW woodshield.
You've got to apply several coats wet-on-wet, and
then wait 7-10 days for it to dry before applying the
top coat. Does anyone out there have experience with
this? How well does the Weatherproof polyurethane
bond to the surface with woodshield on it? Is this indeed
a wise approach for a full-exposure situation?

Also, do I need to use sanding sealer first, or is that
only for interior applications?

Any experience/advice appreciated.

TIA.

Hi stragerep, I've just finished my deck handrail. Money was a bit short as always so I've reused some old cypress joists and planed a convexity for the top surface. I coated mine with left over spa-n-deck.

The main problem I had was that the wood checks and splits quite badly, probably because it is very dry (>100yrs old) and the spa-n-deck is applied to wet wood which makes this worse. This will mean a few splinters.

Overall not very happy.

If I had a second chance I might use hardwood and use Dimension 4/DWD from Intergrain. The Dimension 4 is a primer to minimise checking and the DWD is a UV stable coating that lasts well.

Could you tell me where you got your timber and what it cost? Cheers, My railing is about 25 metres and cost zip but I might end up replacing it....

Cheers
Pulse

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by strangerep

The handrail is backbutt select KD, milled to an
elliptical profile. It has a reasonably smooth finish
(i.e: as produced by the profiling machine). Should
I attempt to sand it further by hand?

I was thinking of using several coats of Feast-Watson
Woodshield first, because it comes in various colours and
I want a much darker tone than natural blackbutt.
Then FW Weatherproof (gloss polyurethane) on top.

One thing worries me a little about FW woodshield.
You've got to apply several coats wet-on-wet, and
then wait 7-10 days for it to dry before applying the
top coat. Does anyone out there have experience with
this? How well does the Weatherproof polyurethane
bond to the surface with woodshield on it? Is this indeed
a wise approach for a full-exposure situation?

Also, do I need to use sanding sealer first, or is that
only for interior applications?

Any experience/advice appreciated.

TIA.

---

Hi strangerep:
I have used Feast Watson Weathershield on a balustrade I made out of Jarrah. I have also used DWD Integrain on the Spotted Gum floor. I am very happy with the Integrain, and very UNhappy with the Weathershield.

The Integrain wears extremely well and appears to hold up well to UV exposure. Also, if you are careful to maintain the finish before the timber begins to weather (i.e. between one and two years), you can successfully apply another coat over the top with minimal surface preparation (just a good mop down with turps). The only downside with the Integrain is that it significantly changes the colour of the timber. Hence I didn't want to use it on my beautiful Jarrah.

Enter Weathershield. This is a clear product and promised to do the job. It has not. It has not done well on the balustrading and cracks and peels. You Must follow the rules regarding the wet-on-wet finishing techniques. In frustration, after about 6 months (when it was deteriorating rapidly), I sanded back lightly and put on another two coats. This has peeled away over the next year. My balustrading is now beginning to weather (silver) badly and desperately needs to be stripped back and refinished. I had wanted to keep the "purple" colour of the Jarrah, but now wish I had gone with the "brown" staining effect of the Integrain. At least I would have a balustrade that is protected.

Bottom line: use DWD.

Regards, Luckyduck

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LuckyDuck

I have used Feast Watson Weathershield on a balustrade I made out of Jarrah.

---

Thanks for your reply, but... hang on... let me make sure
we're talking about the same thing... You said "Weathershield", but that's
a brand of acryllic paint by Dulux. "Woodshield" is a Feast-Watson protective
stain (on p21 of FW brochure). "Weatherproof" is a Feast-Watson clear gloss
polyurethane top coat (p6 of FW brochure).

Quote:

---

Enter Weathershield. This is a clear product ...

---

I'm guessing you meant "Weatherproof"? To clarify: did you indeed
use Woodshield as the base coat, and then Weatherproof as top coat?

Quote:

---

It has not done well on the balustrading and cracks and peels.
You Must follow the rules regarding the wet-on-wet finishing techniques.

---

Which rules did you mean? The quick wet-on-wet recoat time
and long drying time of the Woodshield base coat? Or something else?

Regarding DWD Integrain, I've experimented with it a bit, but (if I
understand correctly), I can't get different colours, and must accept
the brownish colour.(?) Does anyone know if I can put some sort of
durable stain underneath the DWD?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pulse

Could you tell me where you got your timber and what it cost?
My railing is about 25 metres and cost zip but I might end up replacing it....

---

I got it from Australian Timber Supplies at Box Hill, west of Sydney. They
have a specialist milling machine there, and also kiln-dry their own
timber. Handrails are one of their specialities. I couldn't find anyone else
close to me (Sydney Northern Beaches) who could do the elliptical profile
I wanted.

This type of handrail is a MAJOR cost component of my ballustrade:
working out to around $65/lm inc GST, (by the time I'd ordered a bit more
than needed in case I make some cutting mistakes). But, my 125x42 elliptical
profile had to be milled out of 150x45 *select* blackbutt. When I
checked the price of the latter at a local timber yard, they quoted
around $58/lm (without the milling fee).

Thanks Strangrep, I think I'll spend the $1600 I saved on a new tool instead! Thanks for your response. Good luck with it

Cheers
Pulse

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by strangerep

I'm guessing you meant "Weatherproof"? To clarify: did you indeed
use Woodshield as the base coat, and then Weatherproof as top coat?

Which rules did you mean? The quick wet-on-wet recoat time
and long drying time of the Woodshield base coat? Or something else?

Regarding DWD Integrain, I've experimented with it a bit, but (if I
understand correctly), I can't get different colours, and must accept
the brownish colour.(?) Does anyone know if I can put some sort of
durable stain underneath the DWD?

---

Sorry, mate! I did mean weatherproof. I know what you mean about the brownish colour of DWD. Not my favourite either. It is such a strong colour that I'm not sure how successful you would be staining underneath it (I have no experience with that). Regards.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LuckyDuck

[...] I know what you mean about the brownish colour of DWD. Not my favourite either. It is such a strong colour that I'm not sure how successful you would be staining underneath it [...]

---

Hmmm. I'm now wondering about Sikkens products, since they come
in various colours. I'm considering using 2 base coats of Mahogany
"HLS" and 3 coats of natural "Filter-7". I understand that I'll still need
to recoat with Filter-7 after a couple of years, but it seems there's no
way around that.

Does anyone out there have experience with Sikkens "HLS" +
"Filter-7" in full-exposure conditions? I.e: how long did it last
before needing a recoat?