Problems with Matt Varnish

[woodman-79]

Thanks all for the advice. I've finally had success with the matt varnish.

I applied the first coat in satin as that didn't have the bubbling issue. I let that dry for 5 days - this was unintentional, i just got caught up with other things. Was only going to be 24-36 hours.

Applied the matt finish over that satin, slightly thinned ~10% and it went on just like the satin, no problems at all. The blistering clearly was due to lifting the not fully dry under coat.

It's all kinda irrelevant for the job i was doing now, since the customer chose to go with Danish Oil anyway.. which i'm quite happy about. But i'm glad I went through the process and got the experience. If it had all worked first time, i wouldn't have learnt anything..

Cheers

[soundman]

Woodman ... have ya baught a coppy of Neil's book ... "A polishers handbook" ..... at least 2/3 of the finish problems that get posted could be avoided by reading Neil's book.

cheers

[woodman-79]

Hi soundman, no I have but I am in the process of looking around for books on the subject - there a many to choose from. I'll take a look at it.
Thanks

[soundman]

Hi soundman, no I have but I am in the process of looking around for books on the subject - there a many to choose from. I'll take a look at it.
Thanks

There are mant to chose from but very few that are written and published in Australia and as far as I know none as straight, to the point and unbiased as the book published by the owner of this board.

cheers

[ubeaut]

Unfortunately the book's not available right now and probably won't be until some time early in the new year. In the finishing stages of a rewrite that's taken for ever and just can't get the time to do the last little bit. 180 pages are being proof read by a few people at the moment, but probably won't get to the printers until some time in January now.

My fix for the problem you were having. do the satin finish then when dry cut it back to a matt finish either with abrasive powder like pumice or tripoli, or sand it or use fine steel wool, etc.

Sometimes it's easier for a novice to cut a shiny surface back to a satin or matt than to try to get an even, consistent, matt finish, straight out of a can, unless you're really good at it.

Cheers - Neil