Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 623.8207
EAN num: 9780877429845
ISBN number: 0877429847
Label: International Marine Publishing
Manufacturer: International Marine Publishing
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 182
Printing Date: 1990-11
Publishing house: International Marine Publishing
Sale Popularity Level: 375696
Studio: International Marine Publishing
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Few things transform a boat into a yacht quite as gracefully as the incomparable look and texture of oiled, varnished, and bare fibre surfaces. Whether the spars and cabin trunk of a wooden Alden schooner, the mirror-smooth foredeck of a Huckins motoryacht, the thwarts and oars of a Whitehall dinghy, or the teak decks and trim of a production fiberglass boat, brightwork is the crowning touch that elevates one boat in an anchorage above the rest.
But it is also its owner's care and responsibility. There's no mystery to brightwork, but it's a finicky and time-consuming process, one that rewards orderliness and forethought and is unforgiving of missteps. Drawing on more than 10 years' experience as a brightwork specialist, Rebecca Wittman provides in this book all the information you need to avoid frustrations and costly mistakes and derive the greatest possible satisfaction from a process that can be its own reward.
She answers such questions as: - What are the symptoms of a deteriorating finish, and what clues does each provide to its source and cure?
- When can chipped, flaking, cracked, or blackened varnish be patched, and when must it be removed to bare fibre for an entirely new finish?
- Which woods can be left bare?
- In preparing fibre for a finish it is really necessary to sand through all the grits from coarse to fine? (It isn't.)
- When, if ever, is it advisable to use an oil finish on exterior surfaces?
Ms. Wittman has strong opinions. She favors foam brushes over expensive, badger-hair brushes, which achieve no better results and must be cleaned after each use with toxic solvents. She uses chemical strippers only on detailed or convoluted surfaces that a heat gun can't master. And she has clear preferences for certain varnishes and oils over others.
Her writing is meticulously thorough, yet graceful and entertaining. Brightwork is both a reference guide and a celebration of the art.
The techniques she describes will produce the highest-quality finishes on furniture in the home, as well.
'A very first class and highly readable text that should be mandatory reading for anyone who owns or is contemplating owning a wooden vessel.'--Sailing
'It's elegant--elegant as the work it describes so successfully, elegant in its writing, elegant in its photography, and elegant physically as a volume.'--SAIL
A Cruising World 'Editor's Choice':
'Brightwork provides all the information you need to avoid frustrations and costly mistakes and derive the greatest satisfaction from a process that can be its own reward.'
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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I'm on the final phase of building a strip-planked pulling boat with plenty of varnished mahogany, walnut and cedar. I wish I'd had this book before starting the brightwork. The advice is clearly rendered (with or without the step-by-step pictures, although they would have been a nice addition) and in fact the writing style and beautiful pictures make this book worth having, even if you don't own a wooden boat. Very nice.
Rated by buyers -
I've never done varnishing or fibre finishing before but this book gave me enough info to refinish the cabin sole on a 42' baltic. The result was beautiful - Rebecca saved my sole!
I found the detailed description of which paints, brushes, and tapes to use especially helpful. An excellent how-to book. Photos are lovely - it would be a nice coffee table book even if you don't own a wooden boat.
Rated by buyers 
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I am a novice to brightwork and I most certainly enjoyed Wittman's photoessay of wonderful finished fibre and beautiful wooden boats.
What puzzles me is why the author shows no images of the processes she describes. All photos are of finished results. As a novice, I'd like to see what bleached fibre looks like and how stain brings the fibre back to life, etc.
The companion book has exactly the same problem, by the way.
Rated by buyers -
Refinishing my brightwork started out as a nuisance, but as I tried to reproduce the beautiful varnish surfaces the boat had when I bought her, I found that I was woefully unprepared. I asked "professionals," read magazines and searched through books at the chandlerys, and found nothing that answered the questions I had. After all, renewing my brightwork was no longer a chore, it was now more like the search for the holy grail. Rebecca's book is exacly what I was looking for. The definitive book on brightwork. Kudos Rebecca for a job well done. Worth every penny at twice the price.
Rated by buyers -
I told myself that I wouldn't do it. I promised myself, but I did it anyway. I read most (was getting too judgemental to finish) of her book only to come away dissappointed. I have been in the business for twenty years in San Diego, where we can varnish outside more than 10 days a year. Yes, I read her intended scope and reader experience criteria, but that still should not excuse her from some seriously flawed advice.
First, how much did interlux pay you to become their spoke person? Schooner varnish with a foam brush? I can see it now. If your intentions were to educate the novis, recommending a foam brush is a bad idea,for starters. I have used foam for too many years along with my "environmentally unfriendly" Badgers. Small foamers have there place, but your description of foams superiority to Badgers, is down right comedy.
If I had known that only ten years experience, varnishing mainly indoors(remember,Seattle) with foam brushes dipped in a third rate finish would make me an expert.....
I know this sounds harsh, but a beginner to varnishing should know what other professionals in the trade think about her advice. Refishers will always dissagree about various techniques, and best product to use. This book gave minimal print though, to what is recognized WORLD WIDE as the "the best". ( ox hair,badger brushes, Epifanes High Gloss ).
Proof is in the pudding. I would gladly invite you to come down here to San Diego, and demonstrate your expertise on a 16' wide caprail, 85 degrees, Santa Ana winds in full form, with 15% rel. hum. Yes, these conditions are extreme, but a variation of one or more of these, happen quite often almost everywhere. And, oh yeah, we can't go indoors.
In my opinion, the techniques, varnish, and brushes recommended in this book, fail to pass the most important test of all: what if I don't live in Seattle.
Rob W.
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