Non-yellowing wipe on varnish

[Ole Anderson]

I have been using Minwax wipe-on satin varnish for years and I like it until about 5 years later when I start noticing that it is yellowing. Then I really don't like it. Not to mention it is now over $20 per quart. I am starting a kitchen cabinet project using natural (unstained) Hickory. I plan on using a wipe-on as I don't have a setup for spraying. I really don't want them to yellow out into the future. And I don't mind mixing my own concoction. Best I can tell, all I need to do is mix varnish with mineral spirits 50/50. But what non-yellowing varnish to start out with?

[Scott Holmes]

You will want an alkyd resin soya/oil varnish. Pratt & Lambert #38 is an excellent choice . It will not yellow much at all. a slight straw color is about it. For water clear with no yellowing at all, you will need something other than varnish.

$20 per quart for poly is a bit high; for a top quality non-poly varnish that's about as cheap as you will find it these days. P&L #38 is $30 or so per quart. Some non-poly varnishes are more than $40 per quart.

[Howard Acheson]

ALL oil based varnish and poly varnish will yellow eventually over time. Some yellow less and more slowly than others. Pratt & Lambert 38 is one of the latter and you might want to give it a try.

However, if you want a finish that will not yellow you want to use a waterborne clear acrylic. These finishes go on water clear. Waterborne finishes tend to be less durable than oil based finishes but the newer ones are very satisfactory particularly those certified by the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association (KCMA). Waterborne finishes are recommended for wipe-on applications so you will have to brush or spray. They also handle differently than oil based finishes. I suggest you buy a small can and see how you like it. Be careful though, some waterborne finishes are tinted with an amber coloring to mimic the amber coloring of an oil based finish.

[John TenEyck]

If you like the color of the Minwax wipe on when first put on then you like the amber look that solvent based varnishes impart. Howard's right that WB acrylics are very resistant to aging. So too are some other WB products that have UV stabilizers built into them, such as General Finishes Hi Perf. Poly and Enduro Clear Poly, and at least one by Sherwin Williams for which I can't remember the name. Those products, however, have essentially no color, as Howard mentioned, but you can still get the amber color you like with the Minwax by either applying a coat of Sealcoat shellac first, or adding Transtint Dye directly to the WB product. The Sealcoat is easy, and prevents grain raising common with many WB products, but adding Transtint dye gives you more color options. None of the WB products can be wiped on very well, but they are easy to apply with a foam brush.

John

[Ole Anderson]

Thanks for the replies. I am ok with the color of the poly when it first goes on, but it seems to yellow too much for my taste after several years.

[Howard Acheson]

Thanks for the replies. I am ok with the color of the poly when it first goes on, but it seems to yellow too much for my taste after several years.

That's going to happen. Poly varnishes are particularly susceptible to being yellow out of the can and to yellow more over time. The non-poly P&L 38 is quite light out of the can and yellows very slowly over time.

[Ole Anderson]

Well, I decided to go with the P&L 38 satin thinned 50/50 with mineral spirits. As stated, it really is a very light color, almost a water like finish. I applied five coats, wiped on with a half of a blue shop towel. First coat takes longer to dry than the subsequent coats. Later coats dried in about 3 hours at 72 degrees, low humidity. Then I blocked sanded with 400 grit to get rid of the dust nibs, then continued with 400 hand sanding until I got a uniform surface. What really surprised me was the total lack of sheen before sanding. Not at all like the Minwax satin which still has a bit of gloss. I can't imagine what the P&L dull sheen would be like. Don't get me wrong, I really like the finished sheen, baby bottom smooth to the touch, no plastic feel like with regular poly. At actually feels like you are touching a well sanded wood, very nice. I tested one piece by hitting the final sanded surface with a very thin final wipe on coat, but I lost the wood-like feel, so I decided to skip that last step.

Knowing I would need a lot of 50/50 mix, I bought 2 empty gallon containers, in one of them I mixed 2 quarts of #38 varnish and 2 quarts of mineral spirits. Then I added one of those new Rockler mixing lids to do 27 raised panel door/drawer fronts not to mention the cab boxes for my kitchen remod. It worked great to keep the flattening material suspended just before pouring a bit into a small container to dip my wiping rag into. The second gallon pail is to rinse the mixer using MS when I am done. So far, so good. I did notice that a lot of the flattening material ended up fairly well attached to the mixing auger and I had to scrape it off when I cleaned it .

[Jery Madigan]

You can use gloss on all coats up until the final coat and still get the sheen. Saves working with suspended material until the end and my dull your finish less.

[Ole Anderson]

After many years of using a blue shop towel to apply wipe-on varnish, I finally tried a piece of 100% cotton heavy tee shirt folded into a 8 layer pad. Much more durable. The blue shop towel is fine for the first 2 or 3 coats, but starts fuzzing up once it starts hitting the now-dried dust nibs and tiny bubbles ( I don't sand between coats). Not so with the cotton pad. Thank you for not saying "I would have told you that, but thought I would let you eventually find out on your own."

I still have a dozen raised panels and 7 upper cabs to finish with 5 coats, so this was a welcome finding.