New Varnish 'Decaying'?!

[lewisericeric]

Hi guys,

I'm new here but need some urgent advice! A while ago, I bought some Wenge to make some coffee tables/dining tables with.

I used a danish oil to darken the wood and let that dry for about a week and then used a matt varnish to finish it off.

I wasn't happy with the quality of the varnish and because I live in an enclosed apartment, I used a chemical stripper rather than sanding to strip back to bare wood so I could start again with a Ronseal matt varnish.

Now, I'd just finished a coffee table with three coats of varnish and it looked great for 3 days and now it looks like the varnish is 'decaying'. The varnish looks like it's dissolving???

I'm not sure how this is happening? Surely the stripper can't still be activated? It was washed off, first with white spirit and then with a wet cloth. Left to dry for a day before coating with varnish and the varnish wasn't applied to thick or with coats in close succession to each other. (I always leave drying times at least double what is recommended on the tin - had too many disasters in the past!)

Can anyone tell me why the varnish seems to have gone really flat, and original marks etc showing through?? Do I just keep giving light sands with wire wool and applying more and more coats?

 

[ED65]

Strippers these days often use non-evaporating and slower-evaporating components to make them safer for consumers to use (and simultaneously much slower to act and less effective :-( ) so it is unfortunately quite possible to clean a surface well after stripping and still have some remaining stripper lurking in the wood.

How does the varnish feel? Is it tacky at all, do you have localised soft areas or is it fairly uniformly hard?

If possible post photos of the problem areas, anyone who has had a similar problem may immediately recognise it from the photos.

 

[lewisericeric]

Thanks ED

It doesn't feel tacky, it feels 'sound' but just looks like it's being absorbed into the wood, if that makes sense?

Any advice? Keep wire woooling and applying more coats in the hope I'll win the battle?!

 

[ED65]

Keep wire woooling and applying more coats in the hope I'll win the battle?!

Not with matt varnish, no. The manufacturers often don't tell us this but ideally matt should be applied as the final coat or two, not built up layer upon layer.

The more coats of matt you apply the more cloudy the finish gets and that might be part of what you're seeing. I can't be sure from the descriptions.

 

[lewisericeric]

So, should I perhaps give a coat or two of satin first and then finish with a topcoat of matt?

I can't get pictures right now but it does already look a bit cloudy but also a bit 'bare' in places even though it doesn't feel like rough wood. Just like the varnish has gone 'dull'.

 

[Chrispy]

Quote "Just like the varnish has gone 'dull'." sounds to me you have got what you asked for - a matt finish.

Try a test on a fresh piece of wood and make sure you are happy with the product cos it sounds to me you want something a bit shinier ie satin.

 

[ED65]

So, should I perhaps give a coat or two of satin first and then finish with a topcoat of matt?

Full gloss ideally. Satin varnishes also have matting agent in them, just much less of it than in a matt varnish.

Just like the varnish has gone 'dull'.

As Chrispy says that sounds like it's the way it's supposed to be since matt does equal dull, as long as the effect is uniform of course