hobbes wrote:
On Apr 23, 7:54 pm, Don Wiss wrote:
I have a door from my kitchen to the deck. It had been an ordinary wood
with a clear finish. It opened outwards. When it rained I would leave the
door open. For years the finish was fine. Then I upgraded to a mahogany
door. Whatever finish the fellow put on blistered on the outside in a year.
And I haven't left this door open in the rain at all.

So what is the most lasting finish? Thinking like a boater I would think
that spar varnish would be good. But that was years ago. So what should I
use?

Don www.donwiss.com (e-mail link at home page bottom).

Hi,

I have the same problem that you have in that I have garage doors,
east facing, and a main door, south facing. Each year I have to renew
the varnish. I use the Minwax ClearShield stuff you get at home depot.
It is about $US 10 for a small can.

It works O.K. but I would love to know of a clear varnish that will
last longer than 1 year. The ClearShield I use shows cracks in the
wood after a year ....

The only way I have found to do this is to use a storm door. On the
back of the house (north facing) I have a glass storm door over the
wood door. This wood door never needs any fixing. Looks the same as
ever. I guess that glass just cuts down all the UV.

Warmest regards, Mike.

Northern exposure never sees any sun and therefore never sees direct
exposure to ultra-violet. My experience years ago with boats leads me
to conclude that there is no varnish which will last more than a year.
That's why I use Sikkens, but Mr. Bundy thinks differently.
--

Larry
rapp at lmr dot com