Gel varnish in California?

[Janis Stipins]

Hi there,

I've been reading Bob Flexner's book, and I am interested in trying out some gel varnish on a current project. It sounds relatively forgiving, with a lot of the benefits of varnish without most of the downsides.

The problem is, I have no idea what gel varnishes are available in California, if any. I was just in Southern Lumber today, which has a pretty full line of General Finishes products, but no gel varnish. And the big box stores don't seem to have anything like it either (unless I'm just not recognizing it under another name). So this has me wondering if state regulations are going to make it impossible for me to find here.

Does anyone know of any specific gel varnishes available in California? Just to be clear, I'm not looking for any kind of stain; I just want a clear satin finish.

Thanks very much,
-JS3

[John TenEyck]

Have you looked on-line to see if GF's Gel Urethane can be shipped into CA? If it can't be, you have your answer. BTW, you can still get streaks with that product and it's not very durable. I use some of GF's water based products, such as EnduroVar, that are far more durable and I would think all are available in CA. Many of them go on very well with a foam brush.

John

[thomas hsieh]

Your not going to find any gel varnish here in los angeles, maybe in san diego. Send a thank you letter to aqmd (Air Quality management district) for this.

[Janis Stipins]

Have you looked on-line to see if GF's Gel Urethane can be shipped into CA? If it can't be, you have your answer.
John

Good idea... it never occurred to me to have a container of volatile liquid shipped to me, but apparently that's a thing that can be done. :-) It looks like neither Bartley Gel Varnish nor GF Gel Topcoat are shippable to CA, according to at least one online outfit. (There appear to be a few other places that seem ready to let me order them online, but I don't know if they'd actually complete the order.)

On the other hand, I did see the Enduro-Var product at Southern Lumber, and I'm happy to give it a try with your recommendation.

The context here is that I've made a nice walnut box for my wife, and it seems like it should get something different than my standard Watco Danish Oil. In general, my woodworking skills have outpaced my finishing skills, and it's time for me to increase my finish repertoire. :-) But I wanted to sort of ease my way into it, and not butcher a nice project while trying to learn the subtleties of varnish. Flexner seemed to imply that gel varnish might be a more forgiving option, but that might be moot given that I live in CA.

Thanks,
-JS3

[scott vroom]

Woodcraft in San Carlos stocks GF oil based Gel Topcoat rub on varnish in the quart size.

[John TenEyck]

GF's Arm-R-Seal looks awesome on walnut if you are able to buy it out there. EnduroVar looks nice, too, but you might want to wipe it sparingly first with BLO to bring up the color and grain, let that dry over night, then apply a coat of dewaxed shellac to seal the BLO, prior to applying the EnduroVar.

John

[scott vroom]

GF's Arm-R-Seal looks awesome on walnut if you are able to buy it out there. EnduroVar looks nice, too, but you might want to wipe it sparingly first with BLO to bring up the color and grain, let that dry over night, then apply a coat of dewaxed shellac to seal the BLO, prior to applying the EnduroVar.

John

Woodcraft San Carlos also sells Arm-R-Seal in the quart can.

[John TenEyck]

Woodcraft San Carlos also sells Arm-R-Seal in the quart can.

Then that would be my first choice if the OP doesn't have spray equipment. It looks great on Walnut.

English walnut box:

IMG_6630.JPG

Dyed black walnut:

IMG_8659.JPG

Black Walnut:

IMG_7489.JPG

John

[Janis Stipins]

Wow, thanks very much John and Scott! I sincerely appreciate the information and the suggestions. Looks like I have a trip up to Woodcraft in the near future.

John, that English walnut box is beautiful (as are the other pieces!). What did you do to darken the end grain in that box joint?

Thanks again.

-JS3

[scott vroom]

John, that English walnut box is beautiful (as are the other pieces!). What did you do to darken the end grain in that box joint?

Thanks again.

-JS3

End grain tends to darken more than face and edge grain....no special treatment necessary, it does it on it's own

[John TenEyck]

End grain tends to darken more than face and edge grain....no special treatment necessary, it does it on it's own

Right you are Scott. Thanks for the kind words, Janis. That English walnut came from a local tree and it had some spectacular curly character in it which you see a little of in the photo. What is really cool is it moves as you move. As you can see, Arm-R-Seal is pretty light in color and lets the wood underneath speak for itself. It's pretty easy to apply with nothing more than a blue paper shop towel or piece of microfiber cloth. I scuff sand with a 325 grit sponge between coats to knock down any surface nibs. Four coats and you have what you see in the photos.

John

[Janis Stipins]

Hi Scott and John,

Attached are two pictures of the walnut box after one coat of Arm-R-Seal... the weather here only permitted for one coat before Christmas morning. Now that it's been presented to (and very well-received by) my wife, I'll give it two more coats over the next few days. I'm already very happy with how it shows the beautiful grain.

I found the Arm-R-Seal very easy to work with; I just used some t-shirt type rags to apply it. The only hitch was that as I was finishing the underside of the lid, some of the varnish ran under to the top side of the lid. It took a little rubbing, but the run didn't end up showing. All in all, a very gentle and forgiving introduction to varnishing.

Thanks again for your suggestions, and Merry Christmas to you both!

-JS3

IMG_20141225_102309.jpgIMG_20141225_102300.jpg

[John TenEyck]

Looks good Janis. The next coats get harder. You may want to switch to a blue shop paper towel to avoid getting fuzz in the next coats. Why? Because I've never found a cotton cloth that didn't shed. Good luck.

John

[Janis Stipins]

Looks good Janis. The next coats get harder. You may want to switch to a blue shop paper towel to avoid getting fuzz in the next coats. Why? Because I've never found a cotton cloth that didn't shed. Good luck.

No new pics, but the next two coats went on without any problems. A light scuffing with 320 paper between coats, wiped/vacuumed the dust off, and then applied again. Looks and feels good.

The funny thing about the cloths I've been using is that they came from Home Depot, in a big pack of "painters' rags" or some such. Only about 10% of the rags in the pack are actually t-shirt material, like the kind you would want for wiping T-9 spray off your table saw, etc. The other 90% are some awful synthetic material that is not very absorbent and generally fails at being a substitute for a cotton cloth.

But... those synthetic cloths have been great for wiping on this finish. No fuzz or pills at all. So maybe that's what they were for, after all. :-)

I think I've seen you post in other threads that you follow up varnish with a rub with brown paper. Am I correct that that's something that shouldn't happen until 4-6 weeks have passed?

-JS3

[John TenEyck]

I rub down the finish with a piece of brown paper grocery bag ONLY if it has noticeable dust nibs in the finish. If it's smooth already there's no need. I usually wait at least a week before doing it; but I mostly use Arm-R-Seal satin sheen. For a gloss sheen I would wait longer before doing it, at least 3 weeks, to avoid any potential to damage the sheen.

John