'Skiff Sauce' is a wood preservative mixture for wooden parts of traditional wooden boats. It is called that because in some parts of the world that's all they use as a preservative for small boat parts - I believe it's a big deal in Scandinavia. Skiff sauce is a mixture of linseed oil, tar, and other solvents and elements that help it soak into porous wood. Once it soaks in and dries, it prevents water from entering the wood and rotting it. Petroleum oils such as diesel fuel and motor oil in old motor boats also soak into wood but they break down the lignins - the components in wood that make it strong, so they are not really beneficial even though they keep water out. Petroleum-soaked wood becomes spongy, soft and weak.
However, skiff sauce is not good for mahogany. Gives it a sick look/color. Not for teak either because teak doesn't need it. Use it for all other boat woods - longleaf pine, oak, locust. Here's what I use it for on PRIVATEER:
- Parrel beads (black locust)
- Mast hoops (bent oak hoops)
- Cleats (black locust)
- Ash shell blocks (just the shells, remove the hardware including the sheaves, but you can leave the strops in)
- White oak belaying pins (turned on the lathe)
- Deadeyes for the shrouds (black locust or even lignum vitae).
There are probably other parts in traditional boats where exposed wooden parts can be treated this way.
The aroma of the stuff is just wonderful especially if you use real Stockholm tar. I won't say that it gets you high, but it's a close approximate for the wooden boat guy!
Skiff Sauce is, I confess, a wonderful concoction. I have never read a 'complete' recipe - like Coca-cola, it is a closely guarded secret:
But I will share my personal recipe with you. Remember that this concoction has gone through a number of revisions over the course of 20 years, but it is, in its final embodiment, a really jolly mix, and my own personal refinement of the recipe.
If it weren't toxic, I would recommend drinking it, although a Guinness (or a Gritty's) is far preferable!
32 oz. boiled Linseed oil
8 Oz. Raw linseed oil
2 cups Stockholm tar, or if you cannot get that, Bicknell's Pine Tar
1 cup PENETROL
1 cup Star Brite Teak Oil
1 quart real turpentine
3 tblsp. Japan dryer
Mix, stir this all together until well blended. Keep in a sealed container with wood parts, must be airtight seal. If the stuff starts to reduce, evaporate, or shows signs of beginning to gel over time, add more turps or mineral spirits to thin it and keep it liquid.
Soak parts in it for weeks or even a couple of months, then remove and hang to dry for a few weeks until dry to the touch. Then either install, or rough and varnish or clear coat.
Wood parts to be soaked should be quite dry and/or seasoned to facilitate maximum penetration of the wood.
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| Wooden cleats soaking in a bucket of Skiff Sauce |
However, skiff sauce is not good for mahogany. Gives it a sick look/color. Not for teak either because teak doesn't need it. Use it for all other boat woods - longleaf pine, oak, locust. Here's what I use it for on PRIVATEER:
- Parrel beads (black locust)
- Mast hoops (bent oak hoops)
- Cleats (black locust)
- Ash shell blocks (just the shells, remove the hardware including the sheaves, but you can leave the strops in)
- White oak belaying pins (turned on the lathe)
- Deadeyes for the shrouds (black locust or even lignum vitae).
There are probably other parts in traditional boats where exposed wooden parts can be treated this way.
The aroma of the stuff is just wonderful especially if you use real Stockholm tar. I won't say that it gets you high, but it's a close approximate for the wooden boat guy!
Skiff Sauce is, I confess, a wonderful concoction. I have never read a 'complete' recipe - like Coca-cola, it is a closely guarded secret:
But I will share my personal recipe with you. Remember that this concoction has gone through a number of revisions over the course of 20 years, but it is, in its final embodiment, a really jolly mix, and my own personal refinement of the recipe.
If it weren't toxic, I would recommend drinking it, although a Guinness (or a Gritty's) is far preferable!
32 oz. boiled Linseed oil
8 Oz. Raw linseed oil
2 cups Stockholm tar, or if you cannot get that, Bicknell's Pine Tar
1 cup PENETROL
1 cup Star Brite Teak Oil
1 quart real turpentine
3 tblsp. Japan dryer
Mix, stir this all together until well blended. Keep in a sealed container with wood parts, must be airtight seal. If the stuff starts to reduce, evaporate, or shows signs of beginning to gel over time, add more turps or mineral spirits to thin it and keep it liquid.
Soak parts in it for weeks or even a couple of months, then remove and hang to dry for a few weeks until dry to the touch. Then either install, or rough and varnish or clear coat.
Wood parts to be soaked should be quite dry and/or seasoned to facilitate maximum penetration of the wood.
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