Re: varnish
Will is right. Varnish is technically a liquid. If it becomes a solid, it
flakes away. However as a liquid, there is a pitfall. It evaporates. That's
why varnish (until it becomes solid and blows away, or evaporates completely)
always looks new.
That means, if you varnish the dash, it is inevitable that you will,
in a few months to a few years, re-varnish. If it's hot, it'll evaporate
quicker. Varnish is easy to refinish, you just knock the gloss down and
put new over old, as long as you don't let it get to bare wood before
you do it.
And that's why (old-tech) laquers and (hi-tech) linear polyurethanes
are better for this particular application. Varnish has a nice color,
though. And though I've never tried it myself, some BMWs (Boat Maintenence
Wizards) claim that if you put several layers of varnish on followed
by a layer of clear LPU, you wind up with a finish that looks like
varnish but wears like poly.
I've also seen people use clear polyester (fiberglass) finishing resin
with some success.
Greg
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