Replies

1. 
   SteveSchoene | Dec 15, 2010 06:49pm | #1

   This is the basic oil/varnish mix that has a long history and a very important place.  You need not use Tried and True or expensive marine spar varnishes.  The varnish you would use on other furniture projects is just fine--that means it should be a non-poly varnish such as Waterlox Gloss, Behlen Rockhard, or Pratt & Lambert 38.  This just helps use up left over varnish so varnish left on hand will be relatively fresh.  You can even use a polyurethane varnish, it's defects won't show up in the mix--nor will it's advantages..  Ordinary BLO works just fine and basic mineral spirits will work.  For that matter, although you will be paying a lot for mineral spirits you can buy oil/varnish mixes under such names as Danish Oil, or Antique Oil, or Teak Oil.

   They should be applied wet, left to penetrate for a short time, and then vigorously wiped dry.     After several coats you will have achieved a uniform sheen that is very attractive, particularly for casual or contemporary styles.  It is moderately protective and easy to refresh if needed.

2. 
   DonStephan | Dec 16, 2010 07:27pm | #2

   Yes, I have used his schedule.  You will find a number of posts  by people who found T&T often to take weeks to dry, hence mixing it.  Even mixed, apply it VERY thinly and exactrly per his directions.  I won't use it again, even mixed.  There are a few however who think it is the cat's meow. 

   Try it first on a piece of scrap at least the size of one side of your project, not a little piece as I did.

1. 
   SteveSchoene | Dec 16, 2010 11:48pm | #3

   Yes, the varnish oil often appears to present problems  with slow curing, though some appear to love it.  The extremes between the experiences of those using it suggest either manufacturing variability or the presence of an emperors clothes effect.  I haven't personally used it, and frankly money is tight enough that I doubt I will venture a test.  There are varnishes which are reliable, seem to work well for everyone, and equivalently priced.

   I don't see any particular advantages for it.  In some places Tried and True speaks of resin being rosin a natural forest product.  But, when giving greater detail about the varnish oil, it is called ed is called modified pine sap, a modified ester of rosin.  I don't know which of many ester's it might be, but I would assume the modification and esterification of the rosin is a modern chemical process that gives a resin more satisfactory than the natural rosin used in early varnishes.  As far as I know, plain oil varnish of rosin and boiled linseed oil was not thought of as being a superior product when it was being used.  Rosin in turpentine was the cheap "common brown varnish" used for house woodwork if nothing better were available. 

      

1. 
   macmail | Dec 17, 2010 11:48am | #4

   Thanks guys and Merry Christmas to you.

3. 
   swenson | Dec 19, 2010 10:06am | #5

   T&T

   I'm one of those T&T nuts. Love to use it on cherry. When using Tried & True, any talk of putting it on wet or soaking in for five minutes is missing the point of how T&T is used. It is almost impossible to put this stuff on too thinly. After a coat is put down with a balled up cloth, almost like a French Polish ball, the wood will not be wet in the usual meaning of that term. At first a clean cloth dragged over the surface will catch a bit, but in one hour you rub it down till it's dry. Then it sits for 24 hours and you burnish it with cloth or 0000 steel wool and put on the second coat. The rag is never dipped into T&T, just a small amount is applied to the cloth with a popsicle stick. A light at an angle helps you to see where you have applied the finish. If you can easily see where you are putting down T&T you are using too much.

   I have never mixed it with spar varnish but if the base of the mix is mostly T&T my guess is that you use it in the same way.

   good luck.