Toe Rail Finish Question

[Capt'n Pea]

Hey All,

I have a rather simple one for the finishing gods here.

I have a mahogony toe rail that has a stainless wear bar (in leu of any better term :confused: ) on it at the widest point. My question is this, since I am going with bright deck work, and the hull painted, is it reasonable to paint the lower portion and varnish the upper, and hide the seam under the stainless?

Will there be any issues with adheasion, water getting under the varnish etc... with idea?

Should I just varnish the whole thing then just paint over the varnish on the lower portion matching the hull?

Thanks

[Concordia..41]

Overlap the paint over the varnish for sure. Say your left hand is the varnish and your right hand is the paint. Put your fingertips together and that is an example of a paint to varnish joint – needless to say an open invitation to water intrusion as the wood flexes.

Now take your right hand (paint) and put the fingers of your right hand over the fingers of your left hand (varnish). By overlapping the paint over the varnish, you have protected the varnish to wood junction.

As to your question of where – its just aesthetics. Personally, I’d run the varnish over the whole toe rail and down the hull just slightly to create the paint overlap. No other reason than I think the stainless will stand out nicely against the varnished mahogany vs. over half paint and half varnish.

That’ll be .02 please ;)