Making Varnish

[longcruise]

During a hunt this year I managed to gather up quite a bit of sap from fir trees around camp.  Hard stuff with lots of bark and bug inclusions.  It has been soaking in turpentine in a sealed jar for about three weeks now and seems to be pretty close to dissolved.  A slow process in my garage with temps running below zero lately!

Here's my question.  What should be added to the brew to achieve a varnish finish?  Any thoughts on ratios of sap/turpentine (kinda late for that).  There is probably enough there to put a finish on at least one stock.  It's all in a sealed 8 oz jelly jar (no jelly).

[John Archer]

I've had this recipe kicking around for a long time...I've never tried it.

1 cup turpentine
1 cup BLO
3 tablespoons Pine tar
3 tablespoons Japan drier

I have a note with it that it was used as spar varnish. More pine tar will give it a darker amber color.

John.

[longcruise]

What is pine tar?  And, where does one get japan drier?  Would this be an HC formula?

Thanks for your response John

[David Veith]

japan drier from the paint store. not a big box store
David Veith

[Dphariss]

You need to have REAL boiled Linseed oil or make it during the varnish making process.

If you make BLO by cooking it as described then mix it 50-50 with Grumbachers Oil Painting Medium III with make a pretty good varnish.

Or you can use various resins etc. but usually they require heating to properly mix with the oil.
If the oil is properly boiled it will not require pine tar to darken it.

Dan

[David Rase]

Pine tar can be bought in a feed store.  I bought some and it came in a pint can.
DMR

[Kermit]

Careful. A lot of the stuff sold for horse use is pretty rough. It can have all sorts of impurities in it. In a previous life I did a goodly amount of trad wooden boat work, and this is the stuff I finally settled on. It's an ingredient in "boat sauce," which is equal parts stockholm tar, BLO, and turps--with a little japan drier to get it to kick off a little faster.

Here's "The Real Stuff."
http://www.tarsmell.com/tar.html

Japan drier comes from your local paint store. Buy a small can. It goes far.