Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[Loaderman22]

Thank you Thomas & Backroad.

I got a couple backup brushes, but I think I will need a new bucket.

 

[WinterDeere]

Since it came out so beautifully, I'm sure you want it to last a long time!

A lot of epoxies, even those made for boat building, are not very UV stable and must be coated in something to protect from UV. Even those labeled "UV stable" usually hold up better if coated, versus not. Might be worth checking on that.

The usual coating for protection would be spar varnish, which has a high phenolic resin content to block UV. Lots of guys glass and epoxy the floors of their wood boats, and learn the hard way that even the "UV stable" epoxies break down after a some time under full sun, without a few coats of spar varnish to protect them.

The product group I usually use is West System epoxy, and the resin is UV stable, but most of their hardeners are not. They make a special hardener for this application (#207), but even then most find something like Epifanes spar varnish over the top gives better life.

And just so you know I'm coming from having been there, here's my own little epoxy on wood project, held together with plenty of that West System #207 and protected by 16 coats of Epifanes. It ain't perfect, but about as good as one can expect for something that gets dunked in a lake and raced hard every weekend for 70 years. Varnish is of those "ounce of prevention" scenarios...

 

[Loaderman22]

Since it came out so beautifully, I'm sure you want it to last a long time!

A lot of epoxies, even those made for boat building, are not very UV stable and must be coated in something to protect from UV. Even those labeled "UV stable" usually hold up better if coated, versus not. Might be worth checking on that.

The usual coating for protection would be spar varnish, which has a high phenolic resin content to block UV. Lots of guys glass and epoxy the floors of their wood boats, and learn the hard way that even the "UV stable" epoxies break down after a some time under full sun, without a few coats of spar varnish to protect them.

The product group I usually use is West System epoxy, and the resin is UV stable, but most of their hardeners are not. They make a special hardener for this application (#207), but even then most find something like Epifanes spar varnish over the top gives better life.

And just so you know I'm coming from having been there, here's my own little epoxy on wood project, held together with plenty of that West System #207 and protected by 16 coats of Epifanes. It ain't perfect, but about as good as one can expect for something that gets dunked in a lake and raced hard every weekend for 70 years. Varnish is of those "ounce of prevention" scenarios...

View attachment 4146046 View attachment 4146047

Good food for thought. The Total Boat has great reviews on its resistance to UV discoloration. This bench does face North and has a roof over it, in the woods, but I hear ya and will do a bit more research. This is the "bus stop" it lives in.

 

[WinterDeere]

Oh geez... with that sort of shade, you're probably fine!

It's really cool you built that. Bus stop shelters like that used to be common around here when I was a kid, but much less so now, it seems everyone drives their kids to the bus stop now. It's nice to think that shelter you built may be there and used and maintained by others, many years after we are all gone.

 

[Loaderman22]

Oh geez... with that sort of shade, you're probably fine!

It's really cool you built that. Bus stop shelters like that used to be common around here when I was a kid, but much less so now, it seems everyone drives their kids to the bus stop now. It's nice to think that shelter you built may be there and used and maintained by others, many years after we are all gone.

Thank you. Its actually a project my daughters Girl Scout troop did for the local Scout Camp. I jokingly call it the bus stop as thats what it resembles, but its just a quiet spot in the woods where you can take a minute and watch the lake. With 7k psi concrete & lots of reinforcing, PT wood, 3/4 minus gravel around it and a metal roof, aside from a tree falling on it, it should be just fine for a long time. And as hard of a time as all the older generations had growing up, I think kids today have quite the uphill battle ahead. So if they can take a minute away from the phone, and just watch nature, I think its worth all the work put into it.

 

[Gregster613]

Thanks Gregster.

Side note my sister used to live in Ramona!

Those "outdoor tastes" probably came from here too!! I admired the work/time you spent getting that project done also! I somewhat know what that entails, my wife has lots of "Grand" outdoor ideas - for me - to get done! Ha!

 

[BackRoad]

So...is that Mr. Loaderman's project for the Girl Scouts, or did some of the Girl Scouts help? Only asking out of curiosity!

About the only "if I had it to do over again"...would have been encouraging my son and daughter to have helped me more as they were growing up. Actually if done correctly, it should have been me helping and guiding them...

Everything seemed so "urgent" so I just got on with it.

What wasted opportunity (...he says wistfully...)

 

[Loaderman22]

It was mostly us Dad's, but the girls definitely did a lot of work also, my daughter was peeling bark and sanding the bench slabs. They drilled holes and helped put the siding boards on the "bus stop". they also made the trail to the structure and raked the stone around it.

 

[BackRoad]

Brilliant on the girls helping!!!

I was getting ice cream yesterday, and at the window next to me, a 7 year old was getting handed his cone. I heard his Dad standing near by "What do you say Sam?" And Sam quickly gave the server a big "Thank You very much!".

Your post Mr. Loaderman, and that Dad reminding his son of what is becoming un-common courtesy give me great hope for the future...

 

[Loaderman22]

I tell her all the time, there's no substitute for safety or manners!