Re coating tiller. What to apply?

[alan white]

Some varnishes seem to require a little thinning to lay flat and others don't, all things being equal. The brand I usually use is Interlux Captain's varnish, which is reasonably priced and has good viscosity right out of the can.
When I do thin it, it is as said only less than 5%, and I use mineral spirits.
Just having the can open several times will cause solvents to evaporate out as will returning unused varnish back to the can.
Develop your own methods over time. Like any art, each varnisher adds a new twist, a new way to do the same thing quickly and neatly.

[missinginaction]

As long as we're talking varnish, I'm working on the interior trim for my old boat. Decided to bite the bullet and run some mahogany through the planer and make all new trim rather than try to salvage the the old since it had too many miscellaneous holes in it from whatever people tried to attach over the past 37 years.

I've always had a bad time cleaning my varnish brushes. I use a spinner and have given them three baths in mineral spirits, then washed with soap and water. This worked for awhile but the brushes always started to get stiff, especially up near the handle. I was getting ready to clean my brush the regular way when it suddenly occured to me.....how about a little unleaded regular?

Yep, a couple of ounces of plain old gas. Just a little.....

Well, I've cleaned my varnish brush 5 times with gas over the past few days (I just pour the couple of ounces of used gas into a pile of sawdust and it evaporates quickly). After the gas treatment I just wash the brush out with a little of my wifes dish soap. Twice.

This is very easy to do and it doesn't seem to be hurting the brush at all. The brush comes out clean as new.

Just thought I'd pass this along as I'd never heard of it. I'm using such a small amount of gas that I don't believe that it's a safety hazard.

Regards,

MIA

[alan white]

MIA, you should also turn the brush bristles up when squeezing thinner out, until it comes out clear. This gets all the paint/varnish up at the ferrule end. No hardening up there if you do it that way.

[DennisRB]

I'm onto my 4th coat. I am still using the thinned varnish (30%) just to use up what I mixed for the initial wood penetration coats. Are there any downsides to using the thinned varnish other than coat thickness? It seems to smooth out brush strokes well and dries faster. It looks like I will have to put on like 5 more coats to use it up. I wonder if I should switch straight to the non thinned varnish? I have been bagging the brush and putting it into the freezer and not washing it between coats. I will throughly clean it before the last coat though to make sure I don't get any specks from semi dried varnish on it from the brush.

I sanded after my 3rd coat with 280grit, but this seemed a bit too harsh. I will try the scourers or finer paper next. Its looking good so far

[missinginaction]

As I'm varnishing away Dennis I use 220 grit between coats but just sand a little bit between coats maybe 3 or 4 good strokes of the sanding block. I'm just trying to knock down any high spots. Sometimes, less is more. In areas where I've routed a decorative edge I use steel wool, again just a few strokes. When done I wipe down with a tack rag and then proceed to the next coat.

Right now I'm on my 4th coat and the grain is almost gone. Probably 2 more coats to a smooth finish, maybe 3. As I'm finishing up I'll sand with 400 grit paper and then rub down with 0000 steel wool before the final coat.

Thanks for the cleaning tip Alan, I'll try that!

MIA