A Variety of Basic Finishing Questions

I'm reading Bob Flexner's "Flexner on Finishing" and I'm so confused, my head is spinning.

1. Varnish. He says that varnish is basically oil cooked with a resin. He says that there are 3 types of resin, alkyd, polyurethane, and phenolic. For practical purposes is there a difference between them? I'm not asking about the chemistry, but the usage. Is one better for some things than one of the others? Does is perform differently?

2. I understand that stain acts differently on hardwood compared to hardwood plywood. So how do you handle it when you are finishing a project that has both in it, like a frame and panel door? say, oak and oak plywood. Do you finish them separately or all at one time? would you always use a washcoat?

3. Is it important to store all your finishing products at a certain temperature? Should I be keeping mine in the house where the temp is very stable compared to the shop (garage) where the temp fluctuates a lot?

4. When you're working with mineral spirits, what should you do with the waste chemicals?

That's it for the moment. :) :) :) Thanks for any and all wisdom on the subject.
 
Cynthia please pic a question and start with one LOL you have my mind swimming. It takes a while to learn so work on one question and know that you know that one and then move on.

4. When you're working with mineral spirits, what should you do with the waste chemicals?
I use a 5 gal medal bucket with 3/4 saw dust to put liquid waist in. It will evaporate and dry up then you can just trash the bucket.

Or toss it on a wasp nest , works great to kill them buggers :rolleyes::rofl:
 
Okay, Dave. How about this one:

2. I understand that stain acts differently on hardwood compared to hardwood plywood. So how do you handle it when you are finishing a project that has both in it, like a frame and panel door? say, oak and oak plywood. Do you finish them separately or all at one time? would you always use a washcoat?

Thanks
 
Well you need to do a pre stain prep to the plywood. This will stop the face from getting blotchy. I'm not sure of the formula, I use to make it but these days I seal ply with lacquer before I color to match hard wood.
 
Okay, Dave, let's move on to this one:

1. Varnish. He says that varnish is basically oil cooked with a resin. He says that there are 3 types of resin, alkyd, polyurethane, and phenolic. For practical purposes is there a difference between them? I'm not asking about the chemistry, but the usage. Is one better for some things than one of the others? Does is perform differently?
 
None that I know of. You will need to go Acrylic to get a non yellow product or lacquer. Lacquer has a very slight yellow to it when it goes on but it will not yellow from that point.
 
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