I agree, Stain is the way to go. It lets the texture and grain poke through. A very diluted wash of black can also used to bring out the texture after the gray stain provides the color. Do some test on scrap wood and see what looks good to you.
What color is the USS Constitution deck?
- Thread starter Jack Sparrow
- Start date
- Watchers 13
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2017
- Messages
- 25
- Points
- 48
The Deck may look black in photos, but it is a weathered gray. This is like many
Ships that have wood decks. The deck is not painted.
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2017
- Messages
- 25
- Points
- 48
As I said earlier the deck is weathered gray. Remember, American ships had no
access to teak. White pine was too soft to use. It would quickly produce wear
trout marks in the deck. Many times you would see long leaf pine. Later you would see fir used as decking.
The color of the deck varies with the lighting, weather (wet or dry), and tourist traffic to name a few variables. It ranges from an orangey color in the lightly trafficked areas to flat grey in the heavy traffic areas as well as from board to board. It is distinctly different from the deck below due to exposure to the weather.
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2020
- Messages
- 1,826
- Points
- 488
ok so there is some of that wood look then. Having never seen the Constitution I have no idea what it looks like other than through photos. This certainly makes things more complicated. I think I am going to stick to that weathered grey look. I wouldn't even know where to start on trying to show a combination of weathered varnish and grey stain look.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2024
- Messages
- 320
- Points
- 158
Stains found in hardware, paint, and Home improvement stores are really translucent paints. My father used to make his own stains by mixing oil artist colors with linseed oil. A major use is to change the color of light colored woods used for cheap furniture. They, therefore, cloud distinguishing wood features; something that you don’t want to do with a carefully planked deck. The new environmentally friendly stains advertise that they clean up with water so if water is included in the stain’s chemistry it will raise the grain of the wood deck planking.
A better choice would be a Wood Dye. Unlike a stain, the colors of wood dyes are in solution (not suspension). Dyes are, therefore, transparent and they penetrate the wood to color it. They often use alcohol as the thinning agent so will not raise the wood grain. They are available in both wood tones and basic colors so you could mix a wood tone with grey. Look for them online at specialty woodworking stores.
Roger
A better choice would be a Wood Dye. Unlike a stain, the colors of wood dyes are in solution (not suspension). Dyes are, therefore, transparent and they penetrate the wood to color it. They often use alcohol as the thinning agent so will not raise the wood grain. They are available in both wood tones and basic colors so you could mix a wood tone with grey. Look for them online at specialty woodworking stores.
Roger
I used a grey stain from Minwax, mixed with a bit of brownish stain.
Sorry to post this on two separate threads but...
If you want your deck to have a weathered appearance it might be worth experimenting with this product... https://video.search.yahoo.com/sear...6f023e2d0324b63aa0fc3e15fd0bde10&action=click
The Constitution practicum by Hunt describes an excellent solution to dealing with the deck color.
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2020
- Messages
- 1,826
- Points
- 488
Yes he has a solution, but I don`t like the color he made. I am leaning towards a grey color.
1. Use a light colored wood for the deck. It will darken naturally with time and exposure to ambient light.
2. Use a sealer such as lacquer (solvent based, NOT water based) diluted about 60% solvent and 40% lacquer. Fill the grain and scrape off any lacquer that is on the surface.
3. Do not stain the deck wood. You can see detail on light colored models. Dark models tend to look like blobs.
4. There is NO one color for any deck.
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2020
- Messages
- 1,826
- Points
- 488
do you varnish the deck?
You can use varnish on a deck. Some varnishes yellow with time. Like bill36 said, mixing the varnish with solvent lets it soak into the deck, bringing out the color and protecting the wood from the ravages of changing moisture content in the air for many years. Where I live in MN, the air goes from very humid in Summer to bone dry in Winter. That plays havoc on our pegged colonial style wooden chairs, such that the legs fall out every Winter from wood shrinkage. For models, the shrinking/swelling action causes wood joint seams to split after several decades.
If you are new to finishing wood, do a test piece first and see if the results are to your liking.