: Make sure your varnish is thin enough. And definately never go back and touch
: up an area after a few minutes. Even in a few minutes, it thickens and
: won't lay out flat. Most varnish out of a FRESH, FULL can is the right
: viscosity except for Flagship which tends to run a little thick. As a can
: gets used, air in the can thickens the varnish. Only experience will tell
: you what the perfect viscosity is. In my estimation, better thin than
: thick. Also, don't add thinner and give it a few stirs with a stick. Mix
: it really well or you will get dull spots. I thin my varnish the day
: before by shaking up the can for a few minutes.

: If you were varnishing a table top, the next coat would start filling the
: indentations and you could lay on a fairly full coat. But because its a
: round object you should sand - simply because you want to put on light
: coats to keep from dripping. I would sand it fairly smooth and chalk it up
: as experience. Wet sanding goes very fast. Matter of fact, you can go
: through it if you're not careful. I like wet sanding because it works well
: even on the varnish after one day of dry time. You can dry sand but only
: deglossing the surface or it starts gumming up the paper. Varnish takes a
: long time to dry to the point where it produces powder on dry sanding.

I agree with most of Jay's response.

I only sand as fine as 220 wet paper with a light sanding between coats.

You can have a near perfect brushed finish with experience.

I'd suggest using as little varnish on your brush as possible until you see that
the surface shows dull dry areas. This indicates you don't have enough varnish.

Then you'll know just how much more varnish to use so you won't have drips or
sags on a verital surface.

There are a number of problems specific to varnishing over epoxy you must be aware of.

First, epoxy takes about two weeks to totally cure. If you varnish your epoxy surface within
this time you must use a varnish that is compatable with the uncured expoxy or it will not
set-up properly. Your epoxy manufacturer can tell which varnish to use with their product.

Second, the first coat of varnish over uncured epoxy will take longer to set-up than following coats.

Third, finish sanding with the ROS imparts a static charge to your epoxy surface and your first coat
of varnish can be full of dust specs no matter how carefully you wipe down the surface and remove dust
from the shop air. The next coats will dry faster and dust free.

All the best,
Rob Macks
Laughing Loon CC&K
www.laughingloon.com