First top coat of varnish is on!

[Stophel]

Hey, I just put the first top coat of varnish on the gun I've been working on forever...and it's drying!     Real boiled linseed oil, lead carbonate, the works, but I can't boil varnish as long as I can linseed oil, it has to remain fluid, so I can smear it out smoothly (thick stuff thinned down with either turpentine or paint thinner gets tacky almost immediately, so it don't work).  I did a pair of pistol grips with this varnish some months ago, and each THIN coat took several days of good sun to dry fully.  This time, I added some Japan drier, and set it in front of my black lights last night, and by golly she's durn near dry already!  I am SO happy!

Now, if my mechanic can figure out exactly what is wrong with my truck that would make everything fine!

[Jerry V Lape]

Great,  I read about the historic gunsmiths using blacklights to set the finish but have never tried it myself.   

[Stophel]

This time of year, I'll take ALL the help I can get!!!

[longcruise]

Chris, what is your recipe for the varnish?  I've been doing some reading and researching but just don't fully understand the process yet.  Maybe I'm dense?

[Mad Monk]

Hey, I just put the first top coat of varnish on the gun I've been working on forever...and it's drying!     Real boiled linseed oil, lead carbonate, the works, but I can't boil varnish as long as I can linseed oil, it has to remain fluid, so I can smear it out smoothly (thick stuff thinned down with either turpentine or paint thinner gets tacky almost immediately, so it don't work).  I did a pair of pistol grips with this varnish some months ago, and each THIN coat took several days of good sun to dry fully.  This time, I added some Japan drier, and set it in front of my black lights last night, and by golly she's durn near dry already!  I am SO happy!

Now, if my mechanic can figure out exactly what is wrong with my truck that would make everything fine!

Stophel,

Turpentine versus mineral spirits or "paint thinner".
Keep in mind that if you use turpentine that has been exposed to air for several weeks it will help in the drying.  Turpentine picks up and holds oxygen from the air.  So when you use the turpentine as a varnish thinner it adds oxygen that the base linseed oil needs to "dry".

When petroleum derived mineral spirits were first introduced it was considered a step backwards by craftsman but the furniture factories used it.
When you use mineral spirits as a thinner some will be retained in the varnish film for a very long period of time.  When you use turpentine and residual turpentine trapped in the varnish film will oxidize to a resin.  Addding a bit more resin to the varnish over time.

You are really not supposed to boil varnish.  You would boil the linssed oil with lead and then simply store it.  Most old craftsman cooked up their varnish as needed.  If the resin had to be "run" they would do that first.  When they were satisfied that the resin had been made oil-soluble they would then add heated boiled oil.  You don't want to use cold linseed oil.  You need the linseed oil heated to the point where when you add it into the pot with the melted run resin will not cool and solidify.  Once combined in that manner the resin will remain in solution with the oil even when you allow the mixed varnish to cool.  In most cases they applied their varnish after heating it a bit.  When you heat it it will thin out.  And as you pointed out.  Application is done in very thin coats.  Some was done with a "rubber".  This would be a piece of very fine shirt linen that had been washed a number of times.  No fuzzies!  This would be wrapped around a small ball of cotton muslin.  This would be dipped into the heated varnish and then rubbed onto the wood.

When you make a lead boiled linssed oil and use a natural resin to end up with a mixture with a lot of junk in it.  Tiny particles of spent lead.  Tiny clear globules of polymerized linseed oil.  Looking like tiny fish eyes in a varnish film.  Then bits of dirt that was in the natural resin.  These become trapped in the weave of the linnen "rubber" applicator rather than ending up in the varnish film.

Done right some of those very thin varnish films on originals gave a very deep looking finish.
Dixon had a fancy original in his shop.  When you looked at the varnish it appeared to be real deep.  But there was a chip on the wrist and the edges of the chipped area showed the varnish to be very thin.

How the interface between the surface of the wood and the base of the varnish film reflects light makes all the difference in how "deep" the film looks.  And a varnish free of all of the minute preparation debris also works to make the varnish film look deep.

Bill K.

[B Shipman]

Anxious to see it when it's done.

[Jerry V Lape]

I have never tried to make my own varnish.  What is the resin and where do you obtain it?

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I have just acquired two gallons of boiled linseed oil, and I'd love to learn how to make good varnish as well, so I'll be watching this thread with interest.

[Mad Monk]

I have just acquired two gallons of boiled linseed oil, and I'd love to learn how to make good varnish as well, so I'll be watching this thread with interest.

Eric K. is the guy to get into this.  I did a few small batches with mastic and sandarac resins.  He has played with the copals and all of that.

You have to find a source for the REAL resins.  The ones that make the best rifle varnish require "running".  That can be an art in itself.

For instance.  The dammar resins are fresh tapped and usually souble in the oil without having to be heat run.  But as a varnish goes these dammar varnishes lack the durability of the copals.  Dammar varnish became popular in the late 19th century with furniture factories.  If you look at original oak factory pieces such as those one sold by Sears you see "alligator" cracked varnish.  Typical of the dammars.

Something else you might want to investigate.  One builder who used to come up to the Gunmaker's Fair swore by Venice Turpentine.  When you can find the real stuff.  Originally came out of southern France and Italy.  Fresh tapping of the European Larch tree.  A mixture of resin and turpentine from the tree.  If you distill off the actual turpentine you are left with sandarac resin which was the typical "common varnish" in Europe.  So by using this Venice Turpentine in a boiled oil you thin it out and add resin at the same time.

Beware of what is sold in art stores as copal resin solution.  It may not be real copal resin.  If you buy one of the resins where it is dissolved in alcohol you can bet the resin is not oil-soluble without first having to be heat "run".

Bill K.

[Stophel]

What I have is one pint of oil with (if I recall correctly, I don't have it in front of me) 7 oz. of dark rosin and one ounce of mastic.  About a teaspoon of lead carbonate, and probably the same amount of burnt umber...it's been so long since I made it, I don't recall.  Boiled for about a half hour is all, then add the resins.  Boiled much longer than that, and it gets too thick for varnish purposes (but as oil alone, it is fine, and dries rather faster).  It is of very smooth easy-to-spread consistency with no turpentine added at all....check that, I MAY have some aged turpentine added to this...again, it's been a while since I made it up...

Oh, and I will NOT add turpentine to the oil and boil it.  No way, no how.  I did that once, and nearly burnt the house down.  When a pot of linseed oil catches fire, there's about a foot or less of flames which are easily extinguished with the pot lid.  If a pot of linseed oil and turpentine catches fire...six foot raging flames of perilous death.   Generally, I don't use paint thinner for anything but cleaning my hands (though turpentine is nicer...it smells better!) or other non-varnish-application-related tasks.

This is a simple "plain brown varnish", and so far, it seems to work fine for me (after LOTS of fiddlin' and experimenting).  I honestly have never cared to try the resins that have to be "run" prior to adding to the oil.  One more step of complexity I would prefer to avoid.  Rosin and mastic both dissolve quite readily into the hot oil.  Resins like Sandarac and Copal need to be "run" first.

For just linseed oil, I have a THICK concoction of dark oil.  Boiled for probably an hour and a half, with the same lead carbonate and umber added for driers.  I can't do anything with it as it is, and quite a bit of turpentine has to be added to get it to be workable.  I know I have some aged turpentine added to it as it sits in the jar, but that is thick too, and has no thinning properties.   Dries quite fast, and a good application is dry in a day of good sunlight.  

Like I said, this particular varnish has no real amount of turpentine in it, it is smooth enough to spread as-is.  I know turpentine is resinous and varnish-like in and of itself, and varnish can be made with turpentine as the carrier...I might like to investigate and try that one day...  I've also wanted to give a try at making my own "aged turpentine".  I figure I could simply use a fish tank bubbler to run air through it...

  I did add some prepared Japan drier (just a drop on my fingertips as I was smearing the varnish on the stock) because I couldn't trust the weather and I need all the help I can get with drying right now.  Sunny today, but tomorrow.....  And by golly, it was durn near completely dry just from sitting overnight in front of my black lights!  I have it in the sun today, and will put on the second coat tonight.

Oh, and the varnish is RED!  

[Stophel]

I have never tried to make my own varnish.  What is the resin and where do you obtain it?

I have the refined "Varnish Maker's Oil" from Wood Finishing Enterprises.  They have the Mastic too.  The dark rosin (colophony) I got from Kremer Pigmente (need to get more...), where I also got the lead carbonate and all my umbers and other pigments.  Rosin is cheap.  Mastic is not cheap no matter where you get it.

This stock, I filled the grain with linseed oil, because I wanted it as deep a red as I could get it.  Generally, I like filling the grain with a lac mixture.  Not only does it keep the grain clear and light, it's a LOT less trouble and much faster.  I like Button Lac (also from Wood Finishing Enterprises) over some of the others, only because it seems to dissolve up better for me.....and I think the "buttons" are neat.     I usually add a bit of mastic to it, which, theoretically, adds elasticity and superior adhesion to it.  You can't add much mastic, as it only seems to dissolve so much.  More than that, and I get a gooey clump in the bottom of  my jar.  I don't bother filtering or anything, given that the only thing I do with it is grain filling, I'm not worried about crud messing up the finish.

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