F inishing just isn't my cupof tea. Planning the de-sign and construction

details, picking the wood andcarefully laying out the parts tomatch the wood's color andgrain are all exciting. Cuttingjoints and planing by hand arepure pleasure. But putting on afinish is my least favorite part ofbuilding furniture. That may beone reason I've settled on a fin-ish that gives me consistentlysatisfying results with a mini-mum of effort.

I first learned about this hy-brid finish—a mixture of oil,

varnish and turpentine—at thewoodworking school I went toin Boston in the late 1970s.Since then, I've experimentedwith the ingredients, the pro-portions and the method of ap-plication. These days, I use thisfinish on everything from finefurniture and kitchen cabinetsto the handles on the tools I usearound my farm.

The finish is mixed fromeither tung oil or boiled linseedoil and varnish, thinned withturpentine. It's easy to apply,doesn't require a special dust-free finish room and, like any

oil finish, it won't obscure thetexture and character of thewood. Yet because of the var-nish, it offers more protectionthan oil alone.

The varnish also helps the fin-ish build faster than a straight oilfinish, eliminating much of thedrudgery of application. Be-cause the proportion of varnishis relatively low, this finish is aseasy to repair or renew as an oilfinish. And it can be tinted withartist's pigments or oil-basedstains to match any wood.There's no need to fill pores onopen-grained woods: Sanding

the finish creates a slurry ofwood dust, oil and varnish thatfills the pores beautifully.

Don't sweat the finishproportionsWhen mixing this finish, I don'tget overly scientific about mea-surements. The finish is veryforgiving, and many propor-tions will work. Generally, I mixthem in approximately equalmeasures. If I want more pro-tection, I'll add up to 50% morevarnish. If it's too thick (and al-ways for the first coat), I'll addmore turpentine to get better

surface penetration. If I'm goingto color the mixture, I add an oilstain or artist's colors, keepingit light initially and darkening itmore if need be.

Spar varnish is a favoriteVarnishes have been aroundfor a long time. Really old-fash-ioned varnishes are a mixtureof plant resins (such as amber),oils and a solvent, which isheated and combined in formu-lations often kept secret bytheir makers. Even the tech-niques for applying these var-nishes are carefully guarded by

the few who still use them.Some of these varnishes takeweeks to cure fully.

Modern varnishes are a com-bination of synthetic resins inan oil vehicle. Among the oilsused by finishing manufacturersare soya, safflower, rung andlinseed. The proportion of oil toresin in these varnishes rangeswidely, and this affects howlong they take to cure, as well ashow tough and how elastic thecured finish film will be.

A spar varnish has a compara-bly high oil content, whichtakes longer to cure and leavesa fairly elastic surface that ac-commodates wood movement.Polyurethane varnishes dryquickly and form a tough,durable, but less elastic, coat-ing. Also, after the finish hascured, repairs or additionalcoats don't bond well.

In terms of drying time,toughness and elasticity, alkyd-resin varnishes fall somewherebetween spar varnish and poly-urethane. They're not as toughas polyurethane, but they'remore elastic, and any coats ap-plied after the varnish hascured still bond well.

I have used all three of thesevarnishes in my finish withgood results, but my favorite isspar. The main reason is color.Spar is the darkest. In combina-tion with linseed oil, which alsotends to darken wood, spar var-nish significantly affects thecolor of some woods, like cher-ry. I happen to like the effectthis mixture has.

Right away, cherry and bird's-eye and curly maple look older.But on darker woods like wal-nut, the color change is barelyperceptible. If you want to pre-serve the light color of a woodlike maple or ash, use a poly-urethane varnish because it im-parts the least color.

Most varnishes also have ul-traviolet light (UV) inhibitorsadded to their formulations tokeep the finish in the can fromturning an unattractive yellowand to slow the natural aging ef-

Ingredients aresimple; propor-

ing. Linseed ortung oil, varnishand turpentinemake up theauthor's favorite

ed oil stain canbe added to give

Flood the sur-

to the bare wood,

spots after it'sbeen coveredentirely. Re-coatareas that dry

Rub off theexcess. Pay closeattention to theinside corners

around detailslike cock bead-ing, where thefinish can collect.

to remove excessfinish after it hashardened.

tions are forgiv-

little color.

finish. A pigment-

the mixture a

face. The first

so check the piece

coat will soak in-

minutes or so.

carefully for dry

in the first 10

and the areas

It's more difficult

Brush on subsequentcoats, one area at a time.Keep checking areas you've

already coated to see whetherthey've started to become

finish becomes sticky quickly.

feet of sunlight on wood.All varnishes are naturally

glossy. The sorter luster of asatin or semigloss varnish re-sults from the addition of a flat-tening agent, such as aluminumstearate or silica, which breaksup the reflection of light off thewood's surface. Stick with agloss for the toughest finish,and use steel wool to get a satinfinish, if that's what you're after.

Boiled linseed or tungoil and turpentineFor the oil component of myfinish, I use either boiled lin-seed oil or tung oil (also knownas China wood oil). Boiled lin-seed oil is made by steam-heat-ing processed oil from raw flaxand adding metallic drier com-pounds. The nondrying portionof the oil is removed, makingwhat's left suitable as a finish.

Tung oil also is heat-treated,which speeds its curing timewhen exposed to oxygen. Tungoil is more expensive than lin-seed oil. However, it cures to atougher, more water-resistantfilm, and it doesn't darken thewood as much. If you wantmaximum protection and alight color, use tung oil. Don'tuse raw linseed oil because itwon't dry.

I thin my varnish and oil fin-ish with turpentine. This in-creases surface penetration andspeeds drying time. High-qual-ity turpentine is getting harderand harder to find. It largely hasbeen replaced by mineral spir-its, which should work. I stickwith turpentine because it's al-ways worked well for me.

50 Fine Woodworking

Two rags are better than

after each coat, the author

picks up the majority of the

sures the wood is really dry.

Brush it on; rub it offThe key to a really good finishwith this mixture, or any finishfor that matter, is to prepare thesurface well. For me, this usual-ly means a planed or scrapedsurface. I find this to be fasterand more enjoyable than sand-ing. If you do sand, start with afairly coarse grit, and work upto at least 220-grit. But it's lessimportant which grit you endup with than how thoroughlyyou work through each grit toeliminate scratches from theprevious grit.

For the first coat of finish, Ibrush on the mixture, floodingthe surface and re-coating anydry areas that appear (see the

tacky. After the first coat, the

one. To remove excess finish

residual finish; the second en-

uses two rags. The first one

center photo on p. 49). Afterhalf an hour or less, any finishstill on the surface will start tofeel tacky. As soon as it does, Istart rubbing with clean cottonrags to absorb it (see the bot-tom photo on p. 49).

This initial coat is the easiestto apply because most of itsoaks right in. Nevertheless, it'simportant to wipe off every bitof excess so that the surfacedoesn't turn into a sticky mess.When the surface is thoroughlyrubbed dry, I'll set it aside for atleast 24 hours before re-coat-ing. Make sure you dispose ofthe rags properly. Either spreadthem flat outside until they'vedried or put them in a metalbucket with a lid. Oily rags cancombust spontaneously.

Subsequent coats of finish goon in the same way, except thatthey tack up more quickly andrequire more rubbing to re-move the excess. How fastthese coats tack up depends onthe temperature and humidityand on the type and amount ofvarnish in the mixture. Polyure-thane varnishes cure within afew hours and can tack up veryquickly; spar varnish can taketwice as long.

When finishing a large pieceof furniture, I work on one sec-tion at a time. I keep checkingthe areas I've already coated sothat when the finish begins totack up, I can start rubbing im-mediately (see the top photoon the facing page). If I happento get behind, brushing on afresh coat of finish softens thetacky layer enough so that I canrub it down.

I like to use two rags, one formost of the excess finish andone for a final once-over polish(see the photo at left). Anyplaces that aren't wiped cleanwill feel crusty. I don't worryabout these too much becauseI can either rub them downwith steel wool or rub especial-ly vigorously when wiping offthe next coat of finish.

How many coats to apply is amatter of choice and good judg-

ment. Each layer adds a littlemore depth to the finish, somegloss and some additional pro-tection. For a chest of drawers,three coats is fine. For a tablethat's going to see hard use, Iwould go with a minimum offour coats—five would be bet-ter. When I'm satisfied with thefinish, I wait at least 24 hours,and then I top it off with a pastewax made from beeswax,boiled linseed oil and turpen-tine (see the box at right).

Using the finishto fill the grainAnother one of the beauties ofthis finish is that open-grainedwoods such as red oak or ashdon't need to be filled beforefinishing. Lightly sanding thewet finish with 220-grit (or fin-er) sandpaper smooths the sur-face and creates a pore-fillingslurry. I usually apply the firstcoat in the usual manner andsand the mixture after applyingit for the second and third coats.

This method is easier thanusing a filler, and there are noproblems with compatibility orbonding between the layers offinish. I avoid wet-or-dry, sili-con-carbide sandpaper becausethe dark abrasive can color thepores. Instead, I use garnet oraluminum-oxide abrasives.

Rejuvenating the finishis easyIf the finish needs repair or if itjust starts to look tired, it's easyto fix, First clean the surfacewell with 0000 steel wool, tur-pentine and a little boiled lin-seed oil, and then wipe thesurface until the rags comeclean. A light sanding with 320-grit sandpaper will take care ofany stubborn areas the steelwool can't handle, Apply afresh coat of finish, and rub itout with clean rags. After thefinish has fully cured, reapply awax topcoat.

Garrett Hack designs andbuilds furniture in ThetfordCenter, Vt.

My favorite topcoat is made ofa combination of beeswax,boiled linseed oil andturpentine. This mixture is notas hard as a paste wax madewith carnauba, but it's durableenough and it smells great.

In a double boiler on very low heat, I melt togethera hunk of light-yellow beeswax (saved from combhoney I bought from a local beekeeper) and slightlyless than equal amounts of oil and turpentine. I aimfor a consistency similar to butter warmed to roomtemperature. It should be soft while maintaining itsshape (see the inset photo above). If the wax mixturecools to something harder or softer than this, I add moreoil or wax, whichever is appropriate, and rewarm. Thisrecipe is very forgiving.

I apply the wax with 0000 steel wool, rubbing outthe cured final coat of my oil-varnish mixture at thesame time (see the photo above). If the wax is theright consistency, it smooths out easily without feelinggummy. After a few minutes of drying, I buff it with aclean rag to a satin sheen (see the photo on p. 48). Tomaintain the finish, just re-wax. — G.H.

January/February 1997 51