What are the wipe on finishes?

I am looking forward for the answers… I am a complete ” finishing dummy”

-- - Greetings from Brazil - --

I love General Finishes “Seal a Cell” and “Arm R Seal”. I also like a home made finish of 1/3 BLO, 1/3 varnish, and 1/3 mineral spirits. I apply all of them w/ a rag and it goes on easy and looks great.

-- Bondo Gaposis

wiping varnish, it will have the same durability of varnish, just more coats.
you can make your own by thinning aprox 50/50 with mineral spirits

-- Joel -- http://diversitywoodworks.wordpress.com

I agree with Bondogaposis. I use General Finishes “Arm a Seal”. It comes in satin, semi gloss and high gloss. Easy to put on and quick to dry. It looks amazing when you’re done. The Seal a Cell he mentioned is something you apply as a first coat to porous woods to seal the wood cell. This helps give a more even finish when you apply the arm a seal.

For Sergiozal: There is a great book called Flexner on Finishing written by Bob Flexner. It answers about every question you could have on finishing. I hope this is helpful.

Anything oil-based can be used for wiping if it is thin enough. There’s nothing magic about wipe-on finishes in that regard. The oil in an oil-based finish is mostly transformed in the actual creation of the varnish, but enough is left behind to both a.) provide that warmth of color normally associated with oil finishes and b.) help to lubricate when wiping on.

“Wipe-on” branded varnishes are just thinned versions of the regular stuff. So, yeah, this is why many people will create their own blends by using an oil, regular poly, and solvent in some ratio. Add some oil-based dye stain and you can create custom colors.

-- jay, www.allaboutastro.com

Popular woodworking just had a newsletter article written by Flexner on wiping varnishes: what they are, how to make them, and how to use them. I’ll see if I can dig up a link.

Here we go: link

-- Brian T. - Exact science is not an exact science

Wiping varnish is widely considered to be “fool proof”. So are the danish oils…someone mentioned making your own wiping varnish (50/50 varnish and MS), and you can make you own danish oil by mixing 1/3 each BLO, varnish, and MS. The “tung oil” finish you bought is likely just one of these (wiping varnish, danish oil) and almost certainly doesn’t have a drop of tung oil in it. Because these finishes have varnish, they are more durable than just an oil finish, and you can build the wiping varnish (figure maybe 3 coats of wiping varnish to one coat of brushed) to a good depth. This may not work as well with the danish oil, the BLO in it after too many coats may get gummy….it’s best used as a thin finish.

-- I long for the days when Coke was a cola, and a joint was a bad place to be (Merle Haggard)

All right, I feel kind of stupid asking this question but… what do you mean when you say varnish? Specifically, what kind of varnish? Do you mean polyurethane?

The reason I ask is that I thought varnish was a catch all term for a resin that hardens by curing. It appears I was wrong.

Are you talking about ‘application’ or the results of it? Are you getting blotch? You can spray, brush, wipe or use a foam brush like I do. I think foam brushes are the best due to their ability to reabsorb areas where it’s too thick and spread it to areas with too little. Foam brushes are also easier to control in tight places.

-- Failure does not stop me, it makes me try harder..... because I'm crazy.

I suppose I’m talking about the results of the application. In the sense that I keep getting poor results with brush on finishes (poly, lacquer). This isn’t the fault of the finish, it’s my fault. Even with the Deft brushing lacquer, which is a pretty forgiving finish, I’m getting brush marks, streaks, etc. I’ve tried sanding it down smooth and have not had success. I won’t bore you with the details.

I’ve used foam brushes with oil based stain. I’ve been told NOT to use foam brushes on anything else.

I just tried doing some research and I still don’t know what a “varnish” is. Even after reading the extremely interesting Popular Woodworking article. Thanks for that link by the way.

I’m going to go to the bookstore to get Flexner’s book.

Listen to Jay aka cosmicsniper. It’s simple. Ain’t no magic formulae.

-- Clint Searl.............We deserve what we tolerate

The tung I bought is real tung oil. It’s 100% pure tung oil from Woodcraft. I’m planning on thinning it and maybe adding a little Japan drier.

The boiled linseed oil (Klean strip brand, it’s what I could find) is, I am certain, not pure linseed oil.

I just got home with Flexner’s Understanding Wood Finishing. I’m sure I’ll have more questions after reading that.

One more thing: Thanks to everyone who replied. I appreciate it.

When you brush on varnish, you have to thin it. I know, the label says not to thin it…of course it says that…the environment police doesnt want us buying solvents. THIN it anyway…about 1/3rd mineral spirits or so. It’s just too syrupy straight out of the can so you need the thinner viscosity to allow the varnish to flow better off of the brush and to self-level…otherwise, you see the ridges when you brush. Brush only in one direction and only with the brush tip.

Varnish, I suppose, is anything with resin, which technically makes shellac a type of varnish. But who really knows? Just because it has resins doesn’t mean there isn’t a ton of variance in how a particular varnish reacts. Oil-based, water-borne, and shellac resins all behave in very different ways. Marketing and product labels just confuses.

I associate varnish as an oil and resin that has been boiled together, thus forming a polymer that hardens once oxidized. This means it “cures” in layers and requires some mechanical means of adhering the coats (which is why you lightly sand between coats).

-- jay, www.allaboutastro.com

Thank you. Other than polyurethane, what are the options for wipe on varnishes?

I’m discovering the need to thin the Deft brushing lacquer. When thinned it seems much easier to put on.

Boiled linseed oil is a varnish, yes?

BLO is only good for starting fires.

Read my blog for some other thoughts on finishing.

-- Clint Searl.............We deserve what we tolerate