In article ,
"johngood_____" wrote:

I have a table top I wish to varnish over and have bought some Ronseal
Diamond Hard Clear Satin (water based) Varnish.

I would like to get it on as *smoothly* as possible and not being too
brilliant wielding a paint brush wonder if, since it is a water based paint,
i could *dilute* it right down with boiled water and then more or less
'smear' it on using a rag, then turn up the central heating and hope that it
would all dry very smooth?

Another thought I had was to use a small roller. Our local store sells two
types of rollar surface, a sponge for gloss paint and a hairy one for
emulsion. If using a roller was a possibilty to get a very smooth surface,
which type of roller surface should I buy please?

Thanks for any advice with this.

I'm a lousy painter myself, but was told once that (at least some) clear
finishes should be applied with brush strokes only in one direction, not
back and forth like paint. Keep the brush working towards the area
that's already applied, and don't overdo it since it begins to dry more
quickly than paint. Not entirely sure whether this would apply to water
based varnish, but technique is everything. I actually refinished
several 30" x 10' maple butcher block tabletops that way, and they came
out great, but I did use an oil based product.