On 4/3/2013 1:19 PM, SonomaProducts.com wrote:



http://www.myoldmasters.com/products...ed-gelpoly.htm

Never seen this brand it before. Looks good on the desk. I use wiping poly on heavy wear items like desk tops. Maybe I'll try gel varnish next time. I have used gel stain and liked it.



The brand has been around for a long time IIRC, 35+ years.


If you like gel stains, you should really like gel varnishes. Like
anything else there are different qualities.

I originally started using Bartley gel stains and varnishes in the early
90's. Bartely's sold out to Lawrence McFadden and I loved the LM gel
varnish but they went out of business. I was not impressed by General
Finishes gel varnishes, YMMV

Out of desperation I dried Old Masters, it was the most like the LM gel
stain.

There is a bit of a learning curve. The first coat is always simple,
wipe it on, immediately wipe it off. Second coat wipe on and
wipe/smooth ASAP, after a minute or so. The thicker you put it on the
easier it is to remove. This coat tends to take time to dry depending
on the humidity and temperature. For me lower humidity works better but
in Houston that is hard to come by. The instructions call for a second
wipe down/buff with a new clean cloth between coats and this tends to be
a bit harder to determine when to do so, sooner is better or much much
later is better. Having said all of this using the Scotts paper towels
I never had to wipe/buff a "second time between coats".

Once dry to the touch you can apply another coat. On a good day I can
apply 3 coats.

Once thoroughly dry wrap a piece of paper around a block of wood and rub
it all down to give it a baby butt smooth surface.

FWIW I used it on this also,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lcb1121...in/photostream