Getting gold leaf off of fresh topside paint

[Concordia...41]

My amatureish attempt at a skilled craft is exhibited once again in the fact that I managed to get a noticable amount of leaf on the area around SARAH's port moon :(

In hindsight, there must have been a little bit of the sizing on the brush tip I was using to smooth the leaf and not watching what I was doing I inadvertantly brushed the gold onto the neighboring paint.

I first dusted it off with a paper towel and then tried my finger nail, but what is left isn't wiping off.

I'm headed back down there in a bit and can try various solvents, but don't want to do anything that's going to take the gloss off the paint. :(

Paint = 5 day old Interlux Premium Yacht Enamel

I know it's not the worst problem in the history of the world, but what say you all? :(

[StevenBauer]

Careful scraping with the edge of a credit card? Don't forget the camera.


Steven

[Todd D]

Solvents won't touch gold leaf except for aqua regia (a mix of nitric and sulfuric acids) and certain cyanide solutions. I do not reccommend using aqua regia or cyanide on your boat. I would gently scrape the errant gold off and then buff the paint back to a nice gloss.

[Concordia...41]

You know... just once I'd like for something to just be simple :( ... and then once in like every trillion years, it be nice for something to just go right ... :(

I'm a regular in the paint shop (conveniently located < 10' away), they won't be surprised if I ask for some rubbing compound :o

As Dave would say, 'I can screw up a one-car funeral'

... :(...

[erster]

Gold leaf uncovered deteriates in the sun and will flake off. Its quite possible that with the new paint, the surface is not a good skin to scrape off anything. . Use you boat more and it will come off naturally.;) If nothing else use an artist brush of topcoat and cover it up and give it the 60 foot test, a test that when you first became a member on this forum you promoted whole heartedly each day.:p

[Hwyl]

We know you have finesse, but it might be time to buy Finesse

http://www.boatmartusa.com/marinemall/images/177870367.jpg

[JimConlin]

... SARAH's port moon :(...:(
I'm still trying to visualize this.

[Concordia...41]

BTW - we're launching at +/- 1 pm :D

I shouldn't be freaking out about little stuff. She really looks so good with the new paint, varnish all the way around, etc. :)

There are times that I look at the boat and barely recognize her from a few months ago.

Canvas covers for the freshly varnished hatches are in the works and mast stepping should occur tomorrow or Friday :eek:

I'm really blessed that my worst problem is a little errant gold leaf. I truly have no worries.

[Mrleft8]

Well.............. If you really want to do it right, Boss..... The only solution is to go ahead and gold leaf the entire boat!....;)

[Lew Barrett]

We know you have finesse, but it might be time to buy Finesse

http://www.boatmartusa.com/marinemall/images/177870367.jpg


Wisdom here. Wait for the paint to cure, then rub it off with Finesse-it II.
All will be better if you show just a bit of patience with it. Some elbow grease will be required.

[Hwyl]

<polishing laurels>

[Jay Greer]

The standard gold remover we use in the sign trade is a bit of Bon-Ami on a dampened Q-tip. White machine grade rubbing compound will do the job as well. If the area is large, dampened terri cloth is then most effective as a rubber. Avoid heavy pressure on the soft paint.
Jay

[Lew Barrett]

Jay,
Bon Ami will dull the surface, won't it? I assume that's why you are adding the rubbing compound step; to revitalize the gloss. I expect the Finesse-it II will do the same job with less wear on the paint, but with more elbow grease required. A moistened terry cloth towel is the applicator of choice.
Green paint will mar a lot easier than cured. But I suppose it will also give up the contaminants more easily too. Do small areas at a time to limit the damage of any experimenting in technique.

[pipefitter]

Paint = 5 day old Interlux Premium Yacht Enamel

I know it's not the worst problem in the history of the world, but what say you all? :(

That paint, which is an alkyd, should be very easy to blend in a touch up if it dulls without any need for polishing.
http://www.prevalspraygun.com/

[Concordia 33]

Margo - you mentioned a suprise in your last posting that you would mention later. Did I miss it, or have you not told us about the surpise. I hope you'll have lots of pitures of the mast being stpped. All the best to you and Sarah.

[Russ Manheimer]

Margo,

Congratulations on Sarah's pending mast stepping. Remember not to set up the rig too tight for a few days; let the hull get used to the new forces.

Enjoy,

Russ

[Jay Greer]

Jay,
Bon Ami will dull the surface, won't it? I assume that's why you are adding the rubbing compound step; to revitalize the gloss. I expect the Finesse-it II will do the same job with less wear on the paint, but with more elbow grease required. A moistened terry cloth towel is the applicator of choice.
Green paint will mar a lot easier than cured. But I suppose it will also give up the contaminants more easily too. Do small areas at a time to limit the damage of any experimenting in technique.
There are many fine abrasive products on the market including the polish you mention. Some contain silicone and that is why I don't recommend them as they play hell with painting in the future. Bon-Ami is what I have always used on sign work. However, when dealing with high gloss paint I use the machine grade rubbing compound which is very fine but will still remove the gold. The trick of not having the gold stick to areas other than what is coated with sizing is to use talcum powder pounce on those places prior to laying
on the gold size. No offense intended but, something always seems to get lost in the translation of normal procedures when a job skill is new to the crafts man.
Jay

[Banjo]

Good luck with the re launch and stepping Margo.
As said above, don't forget the camera! :D

[Thad]

I was going to say what Erster said, but also, a little gold sparkle on your boat will look perfect!

[StevenBauer]

So how did the relaunching go? I hope all was smooth. Got piccies?
(of the moon, too)

Steven

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

God, Margo, I hope we never work together and have one of those days at once. There would be wooden boats for sale cheap, and we'd take up checkers. :D

Give the paint a few more days to harden, and then finesse or rubbing compound should take it off, then buff it out.

[erster]

LOL! I couldn't help but think all day about Margo running around on launch day fussing about small amount of gold leaf on her prize possession especially considering that she launched today looking like this!!!!:D:p



http://malolo.ca/gallery/albums/uploads/Bahamas%2007-08/Edwins/Woman_in_Cockpit.jpg

[Concordia...41]

OK, the errant leaf is off (via Aqua Buff & a light touch).

The boat is in the water.

I didn't kill anyone - although there were a couple of honorable mentions... :eek:

High/low lights include a $250 gallon of Trinidad bottom paint falling off the back of the SUV and busting open, several small challenges, the camera being dropped on the restroom floor, and the bow pulpit almost getting torn off when the current grabbed us coming out of the ways.

Seems like there were four things, but only three come to mind.

Must get dinner on the table (and a shower would be nice).

Pictures - at least the ones before the camera dropped - to follow...

GOSH she is so beautiful! :) And I recieved the uptmost compliment :) - a comparison to ABACO ...

Concordia 33 - see thread - "I solved my painting problems"

And Mike, I resemble that picture just TOOOOO much :o

[Concordia...41]

It's all coming back to me...

The fourth trauma was the first one!

They almost couldn't get her out of the canopy!! :eek:

Last Saturday we had that horrible wind storm and the base of the big honking thing moved >4'!

If you look at the pictures, you case see where the base pulled through the gravel and dirt... Also, the A-frames, which don't exactly have a lot of windage, blown over kindof show how bad it was...

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8dd33b3127cceb6a5893631f600000026108BYtG7lsxbq

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8dd33b3127cceb6a58969b09900000026108BYtG7lsxbq

Seriously, the whole freaking giant canopy moved and bent to a fair degree. When the yard man first came over today he said something along the lines of "I hope I can get you out of here." My response, at the time, was a cheerful, "Oh Joel, I know you can. I have faith."

But it took about 30 minutes with the fork lift to both sides moving the bases back in place and the travel lift just BARELY squeaked in :eek:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8dd33b3127cceb6a5896231a200000025118BYtG7lsxbq

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8dd33b3127cceb6a58955b0a500000026108BYtG7lsxbq

So that was the first Major trauma...

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

Yay!!!:D