Finishing off the planking

After finishing planking the deck, I have now scraped the surface with a blade and finished it off with fine steel wool.

When I applied clear matt acrylic varnish, some of the 'permanent' ink used on the side of the planks to simulate caulking bled to the surface leaving a slight smudge.

When dry, I re-sanded with 400 sandpaper and finished off with steel wool once again to remove the smudges.

The second coat was much better as the black ink was sealed by the first coat.

After the third coat, the finish is even better.

I now plan to varnish individual planks before using them to plank the upper deck. That should minimize smudging even more.