Pratt Lambert #38

[Jerry Thompson]

I would like information on this varnish. I have heard a lot about it but I have never heard from any users about how they applied it, pros and cons, etc.

[Steve Schoene]

It's a good alkyd varnish, made with soya oil, instead of linseed oil. This gives it a light color out of the can, and means it yellows less than linseed oil based varnishes. It is applied similarly to other oil based varnishes. Yes, it will need some thinning prevent bubbles and brush marks. Yes, it's not as abrasion resistant as good polyurethane varnishes, but that's really only needed for floors. Otherwise it's quite durable--you won't get water rings on table tops with this. I've always used a varnish brush for application, but if you want, you could thin considerably more--say 40% thinner--and use it as a wipe on varnish.

[Jerry Thompson]

Thank you Steve. I think I will give it a try.

[Scott Holmes]

It's one of my favorite varnishes, light straw color; little to no yellowing. Getting more difficult to find...

[Jerry Olexa]

Very hard to find currently even in high quality paint stores... Great product!!

[Andrew Helman]

I used it on a large maple table over the summer to keep it light. I had quite a few problems with application, but some of that was user error. Ultimately, got a good brush (can't stress that enough) and used it for a coat or two (thinned 15% or so), then wiped on several coats to finish. Polished at the end with auto polish (by hand).

Looks great, but months later it is still soft and can be dented with my thumb nail. Again, really looks great and kept the wood light. Given the opportunity to do it over again, I'd probably go with Arm-R-Seal because it sounds tougher and less prone to dent (or so I hear from folks like Prashun and John Ten Eyck).

Good luck.