epifanes "typical" varnish is very stinky, and I remember it being impressively immune to soap and water as well as sticky. I have come to recognize the ability of the stuff to stay on your hands through every soap/washing attempt as the characteristic of a good varnish with a long string length (molecule) - they are waterproof before they are even dry, which I learned with my own accidentally leaving test pieces in the rain.
A true varnish that's not long oil does create some complications, though - it's probably a near forever finish anywhere but dead on direct sunlight, but they can misbehave when drying if they dry too fast or the layer is too thick, making weird little patterns that look like bumble bee brains (or like human brain at a bumble bee scale) and other weirdness where the adhesion and pull of the drying molecules does the opposite of "laying out flat".
Added later 18 min 54 s:
The epifaines, by the way, looks divine on aging cherry. I made a telecaster guitar and another one with it. One, I never finished, so it's been out exposed to light, even in the basement, and the color is a mid caramel that's super pleasing. if I ever finish the guitar (it has a neck that twisted a little, lesson learned about "perfectly sawn" wood that doesn't see a seasonal change if you're a small builder - observe wood for a year if you have time, even the good stuff can move). That said, the neck twisted in the so called good direction and even if it continues, I'll finish the guitar, but in doing so, will probably build the varnish further so that I can sand it back to level.
Varnish sands differently than more agreeable finishes, it's more abrasion resistant, which is a good thing, but if you get used to some of these crystalline modern finishes that sand like plaster of paris, it's a little bit contrary at least.
It's probably expensive now, and I see they are going the way of the cheeseball, too, by offering a bunch of urethane finishes and maybe even WB. Boo.
Searching for alkyds yesterday just out of curiosity - phenolic alkyds, though, revealed a $62 a gallon true phenolic alkyd or whatever varnish that's called "international". it's not in stock from the industrial supply place that carries it in NY, but that appears to be the extent of it. I think finishes like that can be made internationally still where there isn't so much interference from accountants about hourly wages and such like we have in the US. If it shows up again, I'll give it a shot.
Forgot - sutherland welles - no, too expensive for me. i don't see the point of it for someone who is in my position with 4 gallons of raw tung oil on the shelf, a gaggle of solvents and japan drier. I figured I may try it at some point due to the rumors that raw tung is inferior, but at this point, I have now actually introduced drier to the $33 a gallon tung sold at jedwards, and the S-W polymerized tung has about a point of solids in a quart for a price that's probably double that of a gallon of actual tung oil. upon trying raw tung with 1% japan drier and letting it sit on the surface of a piece of gumi that John Aniano gave me (what a fine fellow John was), I found the film to be impervious to the fingernail test. If tung with japan drier does not mark under fingernail, how much harder does it have to be if it's *in* the wood?
Bill T loves the polymerized tung, though, and he's pretty picky about finishes. I think he doesn't care for the softness of the watco varnish.
This kind of thing - my picking and choosing, is part of a real dilemma. People seem to love polymerized tung. So it's not a bad choice. People love a lot of stuff that's really expensive, but can be gotten to an alternative way and usually in greater quantity, but then the quantity becomes a trap. How long does raw tung oil store? I don't know, but if there is a limit to how long it will store without gelling itself, I will be able to relay it because I probably will not cook 30 batches of varnish to get it used in time. Actually brings up another point -tung is stinky. it makes a strange half spoiled nut smell when it's drying. That may be wrung out of the polymerized stuff, and I learned a way to wash half of the free fatty acids out of it, which also makes the persistent smell go away in the washed stuff. Washing it takes a gallon of ethanol, though, and the time and desire to heat tung and ethanol to a boil, which could be detrimental for the average person (the vapors really persist in a shop where there's not airflow and would be a serious spark hazard). The other way to avoid that smell is to introduce japan drier so that it's gone in a day instead of a week, or to cook the raw tung into a long oil varnish. Everything about varnish is terrible smelling until you combine the oil and the resin, and then the stink is gone. Amber resin, for example, could gag rendering plant workers. I know the stuff that pyrolizes out of it is toxic, but beyond that, it will make you choke if you accidentally get the smallest whiff of the live stuff. like 15 seconds of spastic coughing and choking. As soon as it binds to the linseed oil, it has no offensive odor at all.
Added later 1 d 3 h 30 min 18 s:
John - I went to sutherland and welles.
They mentioned resin in a wiping varnish, which I assumed would be some modified rosin. Ester, penta, etc.
Nope, urethane. The world of urethanes is one I don't dabble in, so I don't know the virtue of it in a combination varnish with tung, and what actually happens or how it's made. They do mention the urethane and the polymerized tung are 1 and 1. That leaves questions that I don't know the answer to - first, there's no need for polymerized tung (adds to the cost) if you are cooking with a limed or zinc rosin - the molecule gets polymerized to length during the cook - when you think it's stringing long enough, you turn off the heat and then add solvent (look away safety fans) when it's around 400F.
Since it's so foreign to me, I can't guess at properties. Liming rosin to 6% cuts the acid quite a bit and greatly increase the melting point. I have not attempted to use zinc, which is pretty popular in supplies of modifed rosin "zinc rosinate" and can become reactive above a certain concentration, including starting on fire with exposure to moisture. I think this concentration has more to do with industrial products and is well beyond the level of zinc you'd have in rosin for varnish. I'll stick with hydrated lime, even though it can be a pain to get all of it to incorporate in the cook. We typically trigger the hydrated lime and rosin reaction with heat and water.
So, back to the sutherland and welles stuff - is the urethane resin reacted with tung to be an actual varnish? Don't know. What does urethane resin mean? It's too wide as far as I know, just like "alkyd" to define much. It's probably less expensive and more predictable than rosin.
They mention using a refined mineral spirits for the solvent, and maybe the urethane allows for that - again, avoiding any solvents that cost a significant, amount, but..
....the reality of retailing things, $157 a gallon.
They do offer a version of the polymerized tung oil with a version of limonene. The upcharge for limonene instead of mineral spirits is higher than the actual cost of limonene at retail, so once again. I'm out.
The reality part is, I'm sure, if you charge less, you'll go out of business. I see their origin was also part of the 60s and 70s introduction of "natural as possible" products, and that's fine. It would've been harder to track down jedwards back then, if such a place existed, and get the raw stock parts cheaply. it's still an issue for anyone in smaller amounts, I guess - the cost of raw tung oil probably doubles per unit or more if you can't meet the minimum order at jedwards ($150). Hard to hit on $33 a gallon tung oil, but a little easier if you have edible oils or the desire to make soaps and can bundle stuff together.
the cost of all of these things that have to be retail-able makes a lot of room from the DIY-er to justify the hobby, though. i don't think I could have many $160 a gallon type finishes around without concern about gelling.