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We changed our van a few weeks ago & altho it's immaculate everywhere else, the wood around the edges of the worksurface has some scrapes in the varnish that look a bit unsightly.  Looks as tho they may have had bikes or something leaning on them that have taken patches of the varnish off.

We want to sand it down & put fresh varnish on but looking at varnish there are so many different kinds!  Would we be better using a clear or tinted one?  And is there any particular kind that's best for being easy to apply without looking a mess & hardy enough to take people brushing past it a lot?

Thanks for any suggestions!

take care as the cupboards are not wood as such they are printed boards.any attempt at sanding could leave you with a large white patch and make it look twice as bad. see

Varnish fadeing on door

Quote: Originally posted by adsheadv on 20/3/2011

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Thanks Michael.  It's not the cupboards though.  The kitchen work surfaces have a wood edging then a kind of laminate (I think) surface.  You can just about see them in the pic in my gallery.  It's just the edges that need doing but if we're likely to make it worse we'll leave well alone...

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Quote: Originally posted by lapo8 on 20/3/2011

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hello i'm a painter decorator what you need is yaht varnish mix with 10% white spirits it's water proof and very hard wearing good luck

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The scrapes were probably caused by buttons and zips ect on peoples clothing rubbing along the edging as they were working at the sink. whatever you do make sure you remove any flaking old polish before applying the new. if you try and paint over the original stuff and the bare wood at the same time you will end up with a duo-tone due to the amount that will soak into the porous wood, whilst the rest will sit on the old stuff on the surface. If you do decide to go for it a clear satin finish varnish such as Ronseal should do the trick of sealing it, but may not bring it up to the colour of the rest of your vans woodwork due to the original coloured woodstain that may have been applied, snd the aging process which then would have faded it from being in strong sunlight.

you may be better to buy a matching shade of satinwood paint from one of the colourizers at your local DIY store and use that as its totally opaque, and will cover the whole lot in the same shade.

Hubby is a retired carpenter and joiner with over 50yrs experiance in the trade, so i asked him for you lol!

Julia