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Famowood

One part science, five parts experimentation. Every wood boat veteran has their secret recipe for a showy finish. Share your trials and triumphs.

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motoryachtsoco
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Famowood

Post by motoryachtsoco » Sun Oct 25, 2015 7:34 pm

I've read a lot of "press" on Famowood the time honored and go to wood filler used by furniture and marine trades alike. Easy to work with but dries far lighter than I expected.

First concern is the can the product came in is green and white vs. the brown can I selected when ordering on line. While it says mahogany it is not any where near the color of the wood on my 1956 Capri.

Second I grabbed a can of minwax wood filler I had around the shop and the match is by far closer.

Anything wrong with using the minwax?

Is it possible I just ordered the wrong Famowood?

Or, is it nothing to worry about, since the filler stain will correct the color?
Chris McIntire

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Kerry Price
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Re: Famowood

Post by Kerry Price » Sun Oct 25, 2015 10:11 pm

I have only used (oil based) Famo on the bottom which gets painted. Where are you using it? Not where you are planning to stain and varnish I hope. It won't look right.
1946 20' Custom Runabout: R-20-092
1938 19' Sportsman: 19501
http://www.chris-craft.org/registry/vie ... oat_id=532

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tkhersom
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Re: Famowood

Post by tkhersom » Mon Oct 26, 2015 6:32 am

There is a spot on the bow of Yorktown that I used some wood filler on. I don't remember the product name for the filler that was used. Took a few tries but it came out quite well. Down near the water line. It is visible, but no one notices it if it is not pointed out.
CompDSC05122.JPG
Personally I have never been able to match boat colors with Minwax. I use Sandusky filler stain. Works well and seems to match well.
http://www.sanpaco.com/
Troy in ANE - Former President CCABC

1957 CC 21' Continental "Yorktown" (Mom's boat)
https://www.chris-craft.org/boats/22625/
1985 Formula 242LS "Gottago"
1991 Formula 36PC "Band Aids"

Life Is Too Short To Own An Ugly Boat

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Kerry Price
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Re: Famowood

Post by Kerry Price » Mon Oct 26, 2015 10:31 am

Chris,
I've been giving some more thought to your question and wondering if you can share with the group some additional information. Are you going to be staining the entire boat along with the area you are applying the wood filler? Are you filling a hole, crack...how big and how wide? Is this in a discrete location or smack dab on top of the deck surface? There are circumstances where you can actually glue in a wood strip which you then sand smooth to the surrounding area if you are filling in a crack or separation with excellent results.
Lastly, you might want to apply some of both of the wood fillers to some scrap pieces of wood, stain and apply varnish and see how it will look when all finished out. It is difficult to judge the final appearance from how it looks out of the can.
Any pictures you can attach would be great.
Good luck!
1946 20' Custom Runabout: R-20-092
1938 19' Sportsman: 19501
http://www.chris-craft.org/registry/vie ... oat_id=532

motoryachtsoco
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Re: Famowood

Post by motoryachtsoco » Tue Oct 27, 2015 1:08 pm

Kerry,

Most of the areas are crazy small. There is a line that runs from midship about three feet towards the stern. Normally wouldn't even matter but the prior owner at one point painted big white stripes down the sides. Now with the offending paint gone there is a white hairline that is noticeable.
image.jpg
The other flaws are typical of docking accidents, little bumps and rubs that are too deep to sand out but too small to glue in a Dutchman.
image.jpg
Then there is the iconic bull nose which at one time took a pretty hard knock. The repair seems to be of a much darker nearly red Famowood. I'd really like to replace it but it's a tough piece to replicate and in a way the battle scars are interesting. Before I removed the old varnish, they were noticeable but the color matched fairly well.
image.jpg
On the top sides there are a few bungs that didn't match up right so Famowood was added for good measure.
Chris McIntire

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tkhersom
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Re: Famowood

Post by tkhersom » Tue Oct 27, 2015 6:07 pm

Chris:

One of the things I like to stress here on The Buzz is to first determine what you want your final outcome to be. If you want an award winning show boat than every decision you make along the way needs to fit in that format. If you want a safe, good looking user boat you will have many options to consider.

I fit into the user category so most of my input comes from that mind frame and needs to be filtered as such.

With that said this would be considered fauxpas by many on this forum, but here goes. Since many of your dings are narrow and shallow another option to consider would be to remove the old filler and paint than refill with Mahogany colored Boatlife Life Calk. This product is sand-able and should look quite good after all is said and done.

Keep us posted on what you decide. :D
Troy in ANE - Former President CCABC

1957 CC 21' Continental "Yorktown" (Mom's boat)
https://www.chris-craft.org/boats/22625/
1985 Formula 242LS "Gottago"
1991 Formula 36PC "Band Aids"

Life Is Too Short To Own An Ugly Boat

joanroy
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Re: Famowood

Post by joanroy » Tue Oct 27, 2015 6:20 pm

I think a man can literally drive himself insane trying to remove every nick and imperfection in an old boat. Bout the time you think it's just right you'll get a new ding. Ya know, like that first door ding in a new car. It always happens. If that was my boat I'd be sanding it down a bit finer, nice rich coat of stain, as many coats of Amber varnish as I could stand doing, (probably four), and go for a boat ride. Have Fun!

martinfeletto
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Re: Famowood

Post by martinfeletto » Tue Oct 27, 2015 7:27 pm

Sometimes you can faux it with a pencil or other color to look like grain. Also possibly fill with epoxy or ca ( super glue) after stain between varnish coats. Hard to tell from the pictures.

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Kerry Price
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Re: Famowood

Post by Kerry Price » Tue Oct 27, 2015 10:46 pm

Then there is the super glue ding repair method. It works amazingly well but needs to be done over existing stain and varnish as you can not stain over the glue. If you are a member of ACBS go to their video section and scroll all the way to the 3rd video from the bottom titled: Varnish Repair Part 2 = Filling in dings in the varnish using super glue.
I had a situation after just finishing laying on thirteen coats of varnish onto my eight year restoration. I was positioning my windshield to fasten to the deck, a complicated two piece unit with folding side wings when I accidently hit my covering board with a sharp metal edge of the window frame that left two small dents that looked like a snake bite. Royal bummer! I had heard about the super glue trick and decided to try it. Incredible! The two dings are completely gone as though it never happened. I can't find the spot now even if I try.
1946 20' Custom Runabout: R-20-092
1938 19' Sportsman: 19501
http://www.chris-craft.org/registry/vie ... oat_id=532

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tkhersom
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Re: Famowood

Post by tkhersom » Wed Oct 28, 2015 5:48 pm

Kerry Price wrote:Then there is the super glue ding repair method. It works amazingly well but needs to be done over existing stain and varnish as you can not stain over the glue. If you are a member of ACBS go to their video section and scroll all the way to the 3rd video from the bottom titled: Varnish Repair Part 2 = Filling in dings in the varnish using super glue.
I had a situation after just finishing laying on thirteen coats of varnish onto my eight year restoration. I was positioning my windshield to fasten to the deck, a complicated two piece unit with folding side wings when I accidently hit my covering board with a sharp metal edge of the window frame that left two small dents that looked like a snake bite. Royal bummer! I had heard about the super glue trick and decided to try it. Incredible! The two dings are completely gone as though it never happened. I can't find the spot now even if I try.
Dang! Just watched that video. Never would have thought of that. Just got my membership value in that one video, guess I better watch some more. :mrgreen:

Thanks Kerry!
Troy in ANE - Former President CCABC

1957 CC 21' Continental "Yorktown" (Mom's boat)
https://www.chris-craft.org/boats/22625/
1985 Formula 242LS "Gottago"
1991 Formula 36PC "Band Aids"

Life Is Too Short To Own An Ugly Boat

jim g
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Re: Famowood

Post by jim g » Wed Oct 28, 2015 6:24 pm

motoryachtsoco wrote:
Then there is the iconic bull nose which at one time took a pretty hard knock. The repair seems to be of a much darker nearly red Famowood. I'd really like to replace it but it's a tough piece to replicate and in a way the battle scars are interesting. Before I removed the old varnish, they were noticeable but the color matched fairly well.
The darker putty in the bullnose is Interlux mahogany surfacing putty. I think the Interlux number was 255. Interlux still makes it in white. number 257. Interlux quit making 255 in the early 90's to mid 90's. I used it on some of the first boats I did. It matches decently if you use the correct color stain which is not the Interlux Chris Craft stain color. I bought out what a supplier had in the late 90's. I still have around 15 pint cans left. I tend to use famowood more often. It does take stain better. But it still has its uses in certain applications.

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