I am finishing bird’s eye maple with 0.75# cut dark shellac then Bartley’s walnut gel stain as a glaze then 1# cut extra pale shellac then four coats of Pratt & Lamber 38 gloss varnish rubbed out to satin. The result is fantastic.
My question is about application of the Pratt & Lambert 38 varnish. I thinned it 12% and used a fitch brush. Got some brush marks that took some effort to rub out. I recently tired spraying it with a Walcom Slim gravity gun with 1.7 mm tip. Got a minor bit of orange peel.
What are other’s experience applying this product – brush vs. spray? How much thinning for brushing and spraying? Would it be better to thin 25% for spray? I am interested in spraying to avoid brush marks.
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This just dries too slow for spraying I'd think. The bounce back and overspray will cover everything including the gun and operator. Some do spray varnish so I guess it is a matter of taste.
Varnish is made for brushing--and should level out brush marks in usual conditions. If brush marks don't level out with varnish flowed on evenly with a good brush and then tipped off, you should add a bit more thinner. Twelve percent seems like it should be enough, but I can't say I have ever measured that precisely. Varnishes come with less thinner these days due to the VOC regulations so maybe you do need more. Manufacturers lie when they say not to add thinner--if they did it would be about the same as selling it with the thinner included under the regulations.
If the varnish is tacking up too fast, make sure you are not using a relatively fast evaporating thinner such as naptha. And, if you are trying to varnish in 90° heat, that could cause the varnish to set up too fast to flowout readily.
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