Re: brush storks in varnish
I am an Epifanes fan, I know what their directions are and am NOT familiar with Interlux. Short answer, follow the direction to the letter, almost.
That said, I use foam 1 ? brushes and apply just enough to keep the brush from dragging. The first coat on bare ?prepped?(see end) wood gets cut 50%. 220 grit when dry then coat 2 gets cut 50%. 320 grit then coat 3 is cut 25%. Coat 4 gets cut 10%, coat 5 uncut, bronze wool before coat 6?
This should fill/seal the grain an leave no brush marks. Apply the thinnest coating you can to get the surface wet, use a light at an oblique angle to see what you have missed and when varnishing down hand DO NOT wear a flannel shirt.. You?ll drive yourself nuts with the little fuzzies that jump off your cloths..
I only applied the varnish in the EARLY morning before the boat shop warmed up or AFTER the heat of the day. I kept the varnish cool to keep it from volatizing to quickly and not flowing.
Be patient, listen to good tunes while you work and you?ll do fine.. I got discouraged, thought the finish was horrible but kept at it. My wife said "enought already!" then I moved it all out in the sun and was really surprised. The directions on the can got me to a 1 yard finish, meaning you can look at it from three feet and I will not be embarrassed..
I prepped an old mahogany whaler interior with a mix of 2 parts boiled linseed oil and one part teak oil. This was sanded into the wood with the slurry filling the grain. This was left alone for a bit then the excess was wiped off. This is a prep that is normally used for teak due to the high oil content but it worked fine on the old dried out mahogany and with 8 coats of Epifanes the finish looks ten feet deep?
