Wood Clear Coat for Outdoor Use

Wood Clear Coat for Outdoor Use

Imagine you are refinishing wooden outdoor furniture or other wood items that are located outdoors. You’re looking for a transparent, non-colored wood clear coat and you want it to provide a glossy finish. It’s important to you that the clear coat is durable, will protect the wood against moisture damage, and will not degrade when exposed to sunlight. It’s also especially important to you that the clear coat be easy to apply.
A coat of quality wood clear coat on your outdoor wood items can be the difference between a long, beautiful lifespan and one that has been shortened by time and exposure to the weather. With so many wood clear coat options available, what type should you choose?

The primary things often considered about a wood clear coat is its ability to avoid yellowing, cracking and peeling over time, dry time, and ease of use. For outdoor use, polyurethane and urethane clear coats are popular as they best meet these criteria, but with some exceptions.

Both polyurethane and urethane wood clear coats can avoid yellowing, cracking, and peeling, but in differing degrees, depending on the formulation used by a particular manufacturer.

Dry time and ease of use of polyurethane and urethane clear coats can differ depending on whether it is a 1K (one part) or 2K (two part) formulation. 1K describes a coating that does not require a hardener, catalyst or activator to harden. Once the clear coat is applied to a surface it will dry without any additives. 2K describes a coating that does require a hardener, catalyst or activator to cure. Without it the clear coat would never fully dry. 2K clear coats take a longer period of time to dry to the touch and fully cure as compared to 1K formulations. As 1K formulations don’t require mixing in a catalyst they are more user-friendly than 2K coatings. So, 1K wood clear coats best meet the criteria of quicker drying time and ease of use. They are frequently less expensive as well.

Another consideration for outdoor wooden furniture and other wood items is expansion and contraction of the wood caused by precipitation and humidity. The molecular bonding properties of urethane clear coats make them more flexible than polyurethane clear coats. Therefore, in a high moisture environment they can stay adhered to the wood surface without cracking and peeling better than less flexible polyurethane coatings. Which brings us to KBS DiamondFinish Clear.

DiamondFinish Clear is a 1K moisture cured urethane clearcoat that is that is UV stable, durable, and extremely tough. It can perform in the toughest of environments without yellowing, cracking or peeling. With minimal surface preparation, DiamondFinish Clear can be applied directly to wood (Likewise, it can be applied to ferrous as well as non-ferrous metals including aluminum, alloys, brass, chrome and copper). It’s also perfect as a high quality clearcoat when applied over cured basecoats, standard solid color paints, and single-part or two-part paints. Because of its Advanced Cross-Linked Coatings Technology, it is both flexible and durable so it doesn’t have issues with delamination or peeling away from the surface. For a demonstration of DiamondFinish Clear’s flexibility and durability see our video.

Pickup Truck Bed Wood protected and beautified with DiamondFinish Clear

DiamondFinish Clear is self-leveling and can be applied with a roller, conventional spray gun, or simply with a brush without leaving any brush marks, which is a problem with most clearcoat finishes. DiamondFinish Clear is also available in aerosol form.

It’s important that a wood clear coat for outdoor use avoids yellowing, cracking and peeling, and is flexible. As well dry time, and user-friendliness are considerations for a project well done. For this, KBS Coatings DiamondFinish Clear is an excellent choice.

For more information on DiamondFinish Clear Click Here.