Waterlox swirls

[Stan Krupowies]

I'm in the process of finishing up my cherry cabinet using Waterlox. I have put on many coats of Original Sealer / Finish and am now onto the Satin finish. I have thinned that with 3 parts Waterlox to 2 parts Naphtha. I read that when wiping varnish one should do it like the kid at Denny's wipes tables so I grabbed the dirtiest rag I could find, sprayed a couple of spritzes from an old Windex bottle and gave it three quick swipes. Actually, I'm using Scott rags in a box. After wiping it on my doors, when I look at the dried finish I can see rag swirls in the finish. These show up primarily at the ends of the raised section of the panels. I'm thinking it may be because I didn't thin it enough and that I should make it a 1:1 thinning instead. Does this sound like a reasonable assumption? Otherwise the satin finish is consistent so I'm keeping it well mixed.

[Prashun Patel]

This is the tricky part about wiping varnish; the ends of a panel get swirly when you dont wipe all the way off the panel.

There are two possible remedies:

1) after you apply, wipe gently with the grain the length of the panel. Think of an airplane. The landing and take off at the start and end of the panel respectively should be gentle.

2) the reason the swirls develop is because the varnish starts to dry and you likely worked it a little more than you needed to. If you apply your varnish extremely quickly and evenly with almost no reworking, you dont have to tip off as above. This takes a little confidence and faith.

Either way, work quickly and in raking light so u can avoid missing any spots on the first pass which will reduce the urge to rework when wet.

[Stan Krupowies]

Well I didn't try the wiping gently thing but I did put on a fairly heavy coat of thinned Satin. When I got done the wet varnish looked like glass - as smooth as could be. The next morning I went down and took a look and I wanted to scream. It looked like garbage! Swirl mark EVERYWHERE!!!! So I decided to try one more thing before I tossed the doors in the fireplace. I wet sanded with mineral spirits and 400 grit paper. Cleaned everything off with more mineral spirits, dried the doors and put on a full strength coat with a foam brush. I went down this morning and I finally achieved success. There are no swirl marks that I could see and the surface is nice and smooth, save for a couple dust nibs here and there. So I believe I am now done applying finish. I do have a question though. I know it takes up to a month for the varnish to completely cure. How long, minimum, should I wait before bringing the cabinet upstairs and putting it to use?

[Prashun Patel]

Ok, so you've proved something that I've experienced too with the Original Sealer Finish: Waterlox does not like Mineral Spirits. Whenever I make the mistake of putting on OSF too quickly after having wetsanded with MS, I too get streaks. I never get that problem with other oil based varnishes.

Your wait time will vary depending on your conditions. If it were me, I'd bring it upstairs where it's likely warmer and dryer than the basement and wait until most of the smell goes away - about a week YMMV.