"Leon" wrote:
Spar varnishes are designed to not harden and remain flexible.



Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
Not that flexible. Mine is just fine after a couple of days.

From the MinWax company:

Ideal for: Doors, windows, trim, bathroom cabinets, bar tops, kitchen
countertops and outdoor furniture

flexible is a relative term.
spar varnish was developed as a finish for spars on wooden boats. spars
are working members- that is, they are under load, enough load to cause
them to flex about. so the finish needed to be able to flex with the
spar without cracking. now, flexibility is also a great characteristic
for a finish for doors, since they get slammed, hung in jambs where
stress is applied and such. it's not good for floors, though. it's too
soft and will quickly get scratched and scuffed up. I'd hesitate to use
it for a bar top or countertop for the same reason, but it's just fine
for trim. spar is a long oil varnish- it has a lot of oils in it. for
hard wearing surfaces like floors and counters use a short oil varnish.

I spent several hours today prepping a door I built and installed a
few months ago for a final coat of gloss spar. I scraped and sanded to
320 grit. tomorrow I'll apply a wiping coat to get the final gloss.
it's been a couple of months since the last coat went on and although
it's totally dry to the touch and impervious to thinner it definitely
gums up the scraper blade and clogs up the sandpaper. it's never
totally dry, I guess.