NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/misc/consumer/house/14920

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-22 | 3.3 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!torn!nott!cunews!revcan!ecicrl!clewis
From: [e-mail] (Chris Lewis)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Splinter prevention
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 22 Nov 92 18:46:34 GMT
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Organization: Elegant Communications Inc., Ottawa, Canada
Lines: 60

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Gary Heston) writes:
|[e-mail] (Howard Moss) writes:

|> Well, I'm the "official" handyman at my daughter's nursery school and
|> they have a new complaint that I'd like to ask your opinion about:

|> Splinters!
|> The play house is old and the wood has generated a lot of splinters in
|> the hands of 2-4 year olds. Also, the new wood play structure has
|> a BIG knot that seems to be coming off in pieces and that generates a
|> lot of splinters, too. The redwood picnic table is also being looked
|> at. What are good ways to deal with this, especially since we're
|> heading for the rainy season. Should I just sand all the surfaces
|> smooth? Won't the rains just render that useless? How about sealing
|> the wood, like with paint or polyurethane? Is that ok to do now that
|> the wood is swelling up with moisture from the rains? Another choice
|> could be a waterproof stain or something like that. Would that seal
|> the wood so the splinters would not be present?

|The wood should be sanded and either sealed or painted, and it'll
|probably need this every year or two. It would be best to seal after
|a week of dry weather, of course, but you may only have a few days
|of drying fitting into your schedule. Make sure that whatever you
|use is non-toxic...

|Polyurethane probably wouldn't hold up outdoors, particulalry
|during the summer. Something like Thompsons' Water Seal would be
|better, preferrably two coats of it.

I'll second that.  If the surface is sanded, then sealed/painted,
it'll stay splinter-free a lot longer.  Redwood is supposed to be
particularly bad for splintering.  Ditto plywood.

As Gary says, most polyurethanes will degrade outdoors pretty quickly,
and lose their splinter-inhibit properties.

Thompson's (or one of the other sealers) is a good choice.  Outdoor
spar varnish is another.  Most of these things tend to wear off
in only a couple of years.

One thing to consider: Most of the sealers (including Thompson's)
won't block UV, so your redwood (ditto cedar) will fade to grey.

Finding a UV-blocking clear sealer is somewhat more difficult.
Thompson's, for example, recommends staining first...

We did Gregory's cedar playset with Thompson's, because we want it
to fade.  Guess I'll have to recoat it every 2-3 years.

One way to deal with the knot is to dig out the surface, and fill
it with an outdoor-capable filler.  Some of the solvent-type wood
fillers might be a good choice.  There's also a wood repair gunk
used for repairing rotted wood (eg: window frames) that will definately
stand up to the environment.  You could even use bondo or other
car repair body fillers.  I've even used polyfilla (covered with
oil-base paint).
--
Chris Lewis; [e-mail]; Phone: Canada 613 832-0541
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