44 
House & Garden 
THE VARNISH FINISH FOR WOOD 
What It Will Do and How One May Secure the Best Results — 
Methods of Application and Treatment 
» 
JASON E. DURST 
V ARNISH is perhaps the most sensitive 
finishing material in use today, yet it 
produces the most beautiful effects, its 
transparent coatings magnifying the grain of 
the wood and bringing out its inherent beauty. 
The reason the experienced finisher gets sat¬ 
isfactory varnishing results is because he ob¬ 
serves three simple, fundamental rules. First, 
the surface must be absolutely clean—free 
from dust, soot or grease. Second, the brush 
should be of the proper grade for applying the 
varnish, and it, also, must be absolutely clean. 
Third, the temperature of the room should be 
between 70 and 75 degrees, Fahrenheit. By 
adhering rigidly to these requirements, the 
amateur will have no trouble in applying var¬ 
nish successfully to his woodwork, floors or 
furniture, and he will find the work much more 
fascinating than painting or enameling. 
I F the surface has been varnished pre¬ 
viously, it should be cleaned thoroughly 
with ammonia water, using a one table¬ 
spoonful of ammonia to a quart of water. 
Use a clean cloth and apply freely. Any 
grease spots that remain after this treatment 
can be removed by rubbing with a cloth 
dipped in benzine or high-test gasoline. 
If the old varnish has worn off in spots, 
which often happens with the floor, these 
spots need to be bleached. This is accom¬ 
plished by shaking up in a bottle ten parts of 
cold water with one part of oxalic acid crys¬ 
tals and applying this solution freely to the 
spot with/ a rag, rubbing vigorously. Then 
wipe off the entire surface with a clean rag 
dampened with clean water. 
Allow the surface to dry thoroughly, then 
sand it off with fine sandpaper until it is per¬ 
fectly smooth, and wipe off the resulting dust. 
To insure getting all of the dust off and out 
of the surface, the expert finisher uses a “tack 
rag.” This is made by dipping a clean, lint- 
free piece of cloth into the varnish about two 
hours before using, wringing it out and leaving 
it rolled up into a ball. 
In about two hours the rag will have be¬ 
come sticky, or tacky, and by wiping off the 
surface with it every bit of dust is removed— 
minute particles of dust that fill up the pores 
of the wood and cannot be removed in any 
other manner. If the tack rag is not used, 
this dust is liable to be picked up by the brush 
and dragged through the varnish. As stated 
above, varnish magnifies the grain of the 
wood. It also magnifies all surface defects, 
and small particles of dust are often carried 
along by the brush and built up until they 
look like grains of sand. 
If the surface contains any bare spots that 
have been bleached out, they should be primed 
with* a coat of varnish thinned 10% with tur¬ 
pentine. Allow a sufficient time for drying 
and then sandpaper lightly. 
When the cleaning operation has been com¬ 
pleted, the room should be closed to allow the 
dust to settle. It is always better to wait 
until the following day before beginning the 
varnishing. 
C ALL on the most reliable paint and var¬ 
nish retailer in your city and tell him 
what you want to do. If you are going 
to varnish the woodwork, you will want what 
is known as an interior varnish; if the floor, 
a varnish that will dry hard, yet be so elastic 
that it will not crack under ordinary wear 
and tear; if a chair, a hard-drying varnish 
that will not become sticky in the heat of 
summer. There is a varnish made for prac¬ 
tically every surface around the house, and 
it is important, therefore, that the man who 
sells it to you knows for what use it is de¬ 
sired. He will also sell you the proper kind 
of brush to be used in applying the material. 
The brush should be of good quality, flat with 
a chiseled edge, and elastic. 
Because the brush is new do not think that 
it is also clean. It probably contains enough 
dust to ruin a whole can of varnish, and pro¬ 
duce a rough, speckled finish. Strike it sev¬ 
eral times on the edge of some hard surface 
and you will see little clouds of dust roll out. 
Then whip the bristles through your fingers 
to remove the loosened dust, and strike it on 
the hard surface again. Continue this opera¬ 
tion until no more dust can be dislodged, and 
then wash it thoroughly in clean turpentine. 
Unlike paint, varnish does not require 
shaking or stirring. Open the can carefully 
and pour out into some clean receptacle as 
much of the material as you think will be re¬ 
quired for the job. If any is left in this re¬ 
ceptacle when the job is finished, throw it 
away. Never pour back into the original can 
any varnish into which a brush has been 
dipped. 
Apply the varnish with a well-filled brush, 
and try to give the surface a uniform coating, 
neither too thin nor too thick. The brush will 
drag heavily on the surface if too thin a coat 
is being applied; and if the coat is too thick 
the brush will slip along, leaving raised ridges. 
After applying one or two brushfuls you will 
get the “feel” of the material, and you can 
easily sense whether or not you are giving the 
surface a coating of the right thickness. 
Varnish is unlike paint, also, in that it does 
not need to be brushed into the surface, and 
it will soon level up to a smooth, glass-like 
surface without showing brush marks. If too 
much is applied, especially on an upright sur¬ 
face, it will form what is known as a “curtain.” 
Watch the edges and corners of the work 
to see that there is no running over, and when 
you have covered the entire surface get out 
of the room as quickly as possible and lock 
the door. Don’t call members of the family 
in to see what fine work you have done. They 
will only stir up unnecessary dust. Keep the 
door locked for at least three hours—four if 
possible. Varnish requires this period of time 
to set up free from dust. But it will not be 
perfectly dry for forty-eight hours. 
A S mentioned above, the temperature of a 
d room in which varnishing is being done 
should be around 70 to 75 degrees. Fin¬ 
ishers have always disagreed as to whether or 
not a freshly varnished room should be ven¬ 
tilated, but the majority claim that the aver¬ 
age room contains enough oxygen to dry all 
of the varnish that can be applied in it, and 
ventilation is unnecessary. 
If outside air, especially cold or damp air, 
is admitted to a room while the varnish is wet, 
a quantity of moisture will be absorbed by the 
varnish and it will dry with a clouded effect, 
known as “blooming.” This appearance, hap¬ 
pily, may be overcome by rubbing the clouded 
portion with a good furniture polish. 
If the surface that has been varnished is a 
floor and the varnish does not dry in forty- 
eight hours even though the temperature has 
been right, it indicates that the proper varnish 
has been used; it is an elastic, long-oil var¬ 
nish that requires a somewhat longer time to 
dry, and it will wear for years. 
The most beautifully varnished surfaces are 
obtained by several successive coats of var¬ 
nish application, and if any surface is worth 
varnishing at all it should receive at least two 
coats. 
When the first coat is thoroughly dry, sand 
it lightly with fine sandpaper. Allow more 
than forty-eight hours for drying if possible, 
to make sure of avoiding any disappointments. 
If an undercoat is sanded and another one 
applied before it is perfectly dried, the mois¬ 
ture remaining in the undercoat will cause 
“sweating,” and this will produce “pitting” of 
the next coat. 
After sanding, wipe off all resulting dust, 
apply the second coat with as much care as 
was given to the former one, and leave the 
room quickly. Allow the same length of time 
for drying and keep the temperature as uni¬ 
form as possible. 
When the finishing coat has dried, it may 
be left in its natural gloss, or rubbed with 
rotten stone and water if a mirror gloss is 
desired. For a satin finish, rub with pumice 
stone and water. 
T HE suggestions made thus far .have ap¬ 
plied mostly to re-varnishing surfaces 
that have been previously finished. If 
new wood is to be varnished the first require¬ 
ment is, of course, that it be sanded off as 
smoothly as possible. 
Close-grained woods such as maple, pine 
(Continued on page 68) 
