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Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge

Abingdon, VA – Tree Cutting & Portable Sawmill

Matching Bartley's gel varnish

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Matching Bartley's gel varnish

#1

Matching Bartley's gel varnish

Eric Kuehne

>Good day,

I built a maple desk about 10 years ago and finished it with Bartley's satin gel varnish. Really liked the look over bare naked maple. My challenge is that I am making another desk for my wife who has come along since then and want to match the finish. Simple you say. Just use the same product. I actually knew that. The specific problem is that the great state of California, in its infinite wisdom and desire to clean up the environment has made it illegal to use Bartley's here. Does anyone have recommendation for something that will give the same appearance? I think the finish may have darkened slightly with age (no sun exposure though), so my target is to match the original appearance. Wipe on would be great but final appearance rules.

Thanks all for your help.

Eric, high up in Los Gatos

Re: Matching Bartley's gel varnish

#2

Re: Matching Bartley's gel varnish

Garrett in Victoria BC

>We have a maple kitchen with an oil-based finish. A couple of years later, the kitchen cupboards had yellowed/darkened. I made a small maple table for a toaster oven, and finished it with water-based poly. After about a year, it was the same colour as the cupboards. At that point, I was tasked to add rails to the table, finished them with more of the water-based poly, and, of course, the contrast was awful. Another year later and everything is the same colour.

Your first original maple desk will have darked, even in indirect light. So will the new one eventually. Use any poly of the same base and sheen. Patience will eventually result in two look-alike desks.

Cheers, Garrett

Re: Matching Bartley's gel varnish

#3

Re: Matching Bartley's gel varnish

Tom Stockton

>There is a way around everything, might be a pain but do you have a brother,sister or parents in another state maybe they would be willing to order it and then ship it on to you. I had my parents reship a bunch of fireworks to me once, you could order them from ohio but not ship to CA so they went through MI. That was a pretty fun 4th

Tom

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