varnishing

Posted by Bob Lippold on Sep 10, 2006

I've put on 5 coats of varnish on the hull and I'm up to 3 coats on the deck so far. A problem I'm having is that after the quart can of Interlux Schooner varnish is about 1/2 full, a skin forms on the top of the varnish in the can. I can fish most of the skin off but evidently some harder varnish bits are ending up on the boat. I can sand off the little high points but obviously I can't have that on the last coat. I've ordered another can of varnish and hope I can finish up without the skin forming. Did I do something wrong that caused the skin to form? Sometimes it was as long as 3 days between coats but usually about a day. The longer I waited, the thicker the skin but only after the can was about 1/2 full. I learned I can't reuse the foam brushes but a couple of times I did pour a small amount of the unused varnish back in the can. Maybe that caused the skin problem? Also as I'm getting to the bottom of the can, the varnish now seems thicker. Any thoughts on this problem?

Replies:

• Re: varnishing by Steve Miller on Sep 10, 2006
• Re: varnishing by Jim E on Sep 10, 2006
  • Re: varnishing by Jim Stillman on Sep 10, 2006
    • Re: varnishing by Alan Speakman on Sep 11, 2006
      • there's no reason to stir by Charlie Jones on Sep 11, 2006
        • Re: there's no reason to by Bob Lippold on Sep 11, 2006