Hidden Treasure Box - Inlaid Wood Box with Hidden Compartment

Step 4 Varnishing

Any time I say to varnish a part, these are the steps to take:

*Always sand and varnish in the same direction as the wood grain. In case of multiple grain directions majority rules.*

Sand the piece with 220, 320 and 400, making sure it's smooth an even after each level.

Get the area lightly damp with a wet paper towel. Allow to dry. This raises the grain a bit. Once dry, re-sand with the 400 grit paper (320 if the piece became very rough, then 400.)

Wipe over the surface with the tack cloth to remove any wayward sawdust.

Apply a smooth, thin, even coat of varnish. Allow to dry completely.

Sand lightly with the 400 and 600 grit sandpaper.

Wipe with the tack cloth.

Apply another thin coat of varnish and allow to dry.

You can repeat the sand/varnish cycle as many times as you want. My box has 3 coats.

Comments

[DIYfan]

Who chose this project to be a winner? I don't understand the criteria.

[jeff-o]

What is the best tool to use, to apply varnish? A brush? A sponge? A rag? An upcoming project that I'm working on will require varnish and I'd like to know the best method...

[technoplastique]

I used a water based varnish (which is great because it dries quickly and self levels quite a bit) and I used a golden taklon brush. Golden taklon/gold nylon brushes are synthetic and have very fine bristles (much finer than standard house painting brushes) so they spread the varnish smoothly, and they hold a lot of varnish before they drip. They aren't the standard recommendation but I love them. You might have to look at an art store or in the decorative painting area of a home improvement store to find them, a cheap one will work as well as a high end expensive brush. I used a pretty high grit of sandpaper for my finishing so starting with smooth varnish saved a lot of time. I'm not a fan of sponge brushes for this kind of project and a rag would probably be kind of messy - save that for wiping off extra stain if you use it.