what to seal wood stand with?

[Benny Z]

can i use standard wood sealer like you would apply to a deck to seal a freshly built aquarium stand?

...or is there a particular marine grade sealer i need to look for?

 

[rharr21]

I recently finished a pine stand and canopy.

I used the following products for the exterior: MINWAX Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner (It helps soft woods stain evenly), MINWAX PolyShades (Stain and Polyurethane in 1 step). If you lightly sand inbetween the PolyShades coats, you get a mirror finish (I used six coats).

If you are going to have a sump or fuge in the stand you should finish the interior also. For the interior I used one coat of MINWAX Polyurethane (to seal the grain), Rust-Oleum Marine Coatings Primer (1 coat), and Rust-Oleum Marine Coatings Topside Paint ((three coats, lightly sanding inbetween each coat) It has good UV protection and can stand up to the metal halides)). After the primer, I used paintable silicone/latex caulk to seal the seams inside the stand and canopy. It came out very nice. Oh I used Honey Pine Satin 310 as the tint to the Polyshades.

Make sure you spend the extra money and get a good quality brush or you will get bristles from the brush stuck in the finish.

Hope my 2 cents help.

 

[rharr21]

I don't thik it is necessary to use a marine grad sealer on the exterior because the stand is not going to be out in the weather like a boat and you get good results from the MINWAX product. My father owens a wooden sail boat and has tried numerous "marine" products to finish the teak and none of them last more than a year or so down here in the south. I've had the MINWAX products last for a good ten years on an old stand I have.

 

[Medicine Man]

Minwax Helsman Spar Urethane does a really good job.

 

[240-Reefer]

you want to talk Minwax leave me out
You want to talk real finish go lacquer
http://www.mlcampbell.com/pages/starpage.asp?star=KRY

 

[Benny Z]

sorry guys, i should have stated that i'm not looking for a nice looking finish. i used osb on three sides of my stand's frame for added structural support and just need to seal it so that the wood doesn't get wet. this will be in-wall and only a limited number of people will see the back side of the aquarium.

i'm looking for an inexpensive sealer that i can apply to the entire stand.

thanks!

 

[Fignewton]

I second the Spars urethane. Two coats on areas that may come in contact with water, one coat on areas that won't.

Again, look for Minwax Helsman Spar Urethane it's reasonably priced and worked great for me.

 

[Norboo]

I just finished mine with Thompson's water seal *Clear*.

 

[bigduke]

I used a couple coats of Kilz latez primer I had left over and it seemed to work fine on the interior of my stand. Gives you the option of color rather than just a clear sealer.

 

[Danger731]

i second miniwax polyshades