varnish mistakes

[Alan Peck]

I have done a fair amount of varnishing over the years. But mostly things like hatches or coamings.

I am now varnishing the mahogany top to my steering console. Since this is so visible, mainly by me as I will be sitting right behind it, I would like this to be as perfect as possible.

I am finding that I am having trouble with minor surface spots. I am on about coat number 10 and I have just found a couple of the problems.

One problem, is that after wet sanding, I have been cleaning the surface off with damp paper towels. I finally discovered that the paper towels were leaving minute amounts of residue.

The second problem was that I thought it would be clever to bring the top into the house where it would be away from the inevitable sawdust residue in the air in the shop. What I found out was that I was varnishing on a table right next to a wall air vent. When the heating cycled on it carried small amounts of dust onto the surface. So varnishing in the house wasn't such a good idea after all.

I should have know better than to make either one of those mistakes and I am sure the more expert of us already knew that.

I finally resolved the problem by cleaning only with a tack cloth and by placing a cover a couple of inches above the surface to keep dust from settling on the wet finish.

Just a couple of thoughts for other amateurs like me.

[Paul Maselli]

I never let anyones nose get within 54" of my varnish work. From there they didn't see the dustmites.

Hang a very light painters drop cloth (1-3 mil plastic) around the immediate vicinity just before and during varnishing. The static charge generated from opening it will suck the dust right out of the air.

Wet Sand, Tack Cloth, Don't stir or shake the varnish. This will keep the bubbles down.

Good luck.

[Wild Wassa]

If you want to push Paul's advice a bit further? Filter your paint.

Paint filters are better than they sound.

Warren.

[ 03-23-2005, 10:20 PM: Message edited by: Wild Wassa ]

[seayou77]

Wipe three times before varnishing twice with denatured alcohol. Finish with clean tack and keep the tack in one hand for a wipe before brush hits it. Have a clean brush handy in case you pick up crud, can just switch brushes, I often try wiping brush with rag but that compromises finish. What grit you wet sanding with. That is akin to the recycle bin, putting your reputation on the curb. I swear I never go beyond 220, cause the seagulls are the only ones to see that top of mast any way.

[WindHawk]

Took me a whole weekend to realize that stirring the varnish causes bubbles in the finish.

[Jay Greer]

After some forty years as a boat jocky, here is my own method. I never stir varnish, unless I add turps or Jap Dryer. I wash down the boat the night before and dry with a chamos before the dew has evaporated in the morning.
After breakfast or coffee, while the day is still cool and calm, I strain varnish into a clean container, place the can in a beverage box that has been cut in half, taped and contains a tac rag, wiping rag and an assortment of China Bristle Brushes including a sign writer's brush known as a "grey hound". Varnish is laid on with no back strokes. It is always feathered from dry to wet so as to have no laps showing.
Ten coats from bare wood is the norm.

[Rogue Sailor]

Dust, runs, bubbles, brush bristles, no big deal!
Slap on three or four coats. Wet sand with water and a drop or two of dish liquid. Three or four more coats, wet sand. Three or four more coats, wet sand. Then machine polish with rubbing compound, and Finesse-it or equivalent. It'll look like plastic!