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mrslindabeyer

Thinning varnish

8 years ago

I am refinishing my dining room table. After stripping and staining it I applied 3 thin coats of varnish. On my last coat it dried too quickly and left some brush streaks. The 2 leaves were fine but after all my work I couldn’t let the table look like that. So I sanded out the streaks. I’m using a satin varnish. So I looked for some advice online about slowing the drying time. I found an article that said to add mineral spirits to the varnish. It didn’t say how much to add so I started small. When the varnish dried it was no longer satin but matte. So I bought new satin varnish and applied another coat after sanding. Still dull. So I bought a different brand of satin varnish and tried another coat. Still dull. Did adding the mineral spirits destroy this surface? The leaves are a nice satin so the table looks awful next to them. What can I do short of stripping everything again?