Several weeks ago I learned that Bartley finishes had been acquired by
Lawrence McFadden. Apparently Lawrence McFadden has been around for quite
some time and is a family owned business. I was inquiring about buying some
Bartley's stain from them and the service manager and I exchange emails
discussing their product and the Bartley product. He was in need of an
older Bartley stain color that I had and offered a generous trade. I traded
1/2 of a 1/2 pint of Bartley Golden Oak Gel stain and I got 2 quarts of the
LMF product in return. I chose a gel stain and their gel varnish.

I had a small job this week and tried the LMF gel varnish and was very
impressed. Better IMHO than Bartley's on a good day and much better than
General Finishes Gel Varnish. Thicker than General Finishes but thinner
than Bartley's on a good day. The varnish went on evenly and did not start
drying immediately. The product will set in 95 degree heat for a "few"
minutes until you can wipe off the excess with out your wiping towel
sticking to the finish. No wipe marks were visible and I was able to apply
4 coats yesterday between 10:00 am and 5:00 pm.

The beauty to gel varnishes if you have not used one is that clean up
involves washing your hands unless you wear gloves. You can almost
immediately handle the pieces and dust IS NOT a problem. Runs are non
existent and if you accidentally leave a glob it can be dissolved away with
the application of more varnish at that spot.

They sent me a bulk price sheet and IIRC the single quart price is about par
for a gel stain at about $15-$16 per quart.
IF you buy by the case you get a substantial savings.
1 case of 4 quarts is $32.60
1 case of 6 pints is 30.06
1 case of 12, 1/2 pints is 40.66
The quart case price is about 1/2 the normal single quart price.

http://lawrencemcfadden.com/

No affiliation other than getting a couple of free samples.