Anybody use Spar Varnish anymore?

[John_M52]

I decided to clean up the bar at my beach house. 5 coats of Minwax Helmsman Spar Varnish and I'm only semi-happy. I guess I've been spoiled with water based polyurethane. This stuff was impossible to work with. It wets horribly and skins over so fast you can't clean up a brush mark. I finally got reasonable results by thinning it out aggressively. 220 paper between coats and 320 paper before the last coat.

And I grew up working in a marina with wooden boats and learned to paint and varnish way before water based stuff. Maybe it's the new low VOC coatings but what a pain to work with. I like Sikkens products but they seem to be getting harder to find. Local Ace Hardware only had Minwax.

I usually buff it with butchers wax to keep the water beading up.

 

[Rudi]

I have a backyard table I use it on. I put on several coats a year. Old school.

 

[delcrossv]

Epifanes or Man-o-War. None of that wimpy low VOC stuff for me.

 

[Racer X]

On the positive side, most marine stuff now has UV filter compounds in it.

 

[delcrossv]

On the positive side, most marine stuff now has UV filter compounds in it.

I know Epifanes does and has for years. I wouldn't count a Minwax product at "marine"- despite the name.

 

[John_M52]

I know Epifanes does and has for years. I wouldn't count a Minwax product at "marine"- despite the name.

gonna have to look for some of the high VOC good stuff

 

[Aggie1906]

Captains, and I forget the other one. Heard about some being discontinued. My kayak looks great!

 

[djohns6]

I paint my fiberglass ladders with it when the finish starts to weather .

 

[Jinglebob]

Try Waterlox. It's a sealer/finish that is non-toxic and food-safe when cured. I used it on a bathroom vanity that I built and a butcher block. Water will not penetrate or stain the beautiful finish. I couldn't find Waterlox at the local big box stores so I ordered online.

 

[John_M52]

Try Waterlox. It's a sealer/finish that is non-toxic and food-safe when cured. I used it on a bathroom vanity that I built and a butcher block. Water will not penetrate or stain the beautiful finish. I couldn't find Waterlox at the local big box stores so I ordered online.

It looks like Waterlox is a tung oil type finish. I used tung oil on an M1A walnut stock and it came out nice. Lots of rubbing!

 

[K-22]

Turpentine

I decided to clean up the bar at my beach house. 5 coats of Minwax Helmsman Spar Varnish and I'm only semi-happy. I guess I've been spoiled with water based polyurethane. This stuff was impossible to work with. It wets horribly and skins over so fast you can't clean up a brush mark. I finally got reasonable results by thinning it out aggressively. 220 paper between coats and 320 paper before the last coat.

And I grew up working in a marina with wooden boats and learned to paint and varnish way before water based stuff. Maybe it's the new low VOC coatings but what a pain to work with. I like Sikkens products but they seem to be getting harder to find. Local Ace Hardware only had Minwax.

I usually buff it with butchers wax to keep the water beading up.

Thin it out with a little turpentine. You will find it flows and levels much better.
Also, varnish likes to be warm when applied.

Best,
Gary

 

[Bald1]

I use it on my moose antlers hanging on front of my cabin. Just last week I used it on the splash rails on my cedar strip boat. No problems at all.

 

[sheepdawg]

The manufacturers had to reduce the thinner content in oil based products several years ago. Since then I have to add thinner or a product called Penetrol to slow the drying. If done correctly you can still get these products to flow out.

It's my understanding that today's spar varnish is just polyurethane with a UV filter added to give it some life when used outside.

 

[Beemerguy53]

When I started my fire service career -- in the days when ladders were wooden and men were iron -- we used spar varnish all the time, not just for ladders, but for axe and ceiling hook handles as well. I remember it the way the OP described it...hard to work with.

Your bar turned out great, John...congratulations!

 

[Bald1]

Beemerguy, doesn’t the varnish make ladders and axe handles slippery? Especially when wet? I’ve always used linseed oil on axe handles. Maybe I’m doing it wrong

 

[K-22]

Tool Handles

Beemerguy, doesn’t the varnish make ladders and axe handles slippery? Especially when wet? I’ve always used linseed oil on axe handles. Maybe I’m doing it wrong

It is not generally a good idea to use varnish on tool handles. It offers a very low coefficient of friction, and promotes slippage.
Best,
Gary