[jcassity]

my grand father used a lot of varnish but it was a home brew ,, every wood thing he made all looked the same color and for some odd reason, its the same color of my 46-1226.

i remember my dad saying it had something to do with using old gas that had evaporated off (the left over muck) and mixed with some other stain. a little bit of polyurethane on the final pass if you wanted that. I remember the smell as a tiny tot, from grandpa and my dad. Dad told me it was a really good wood coating and you can control the amount of grain you want to see more easily than using stains and it penetrated really deep. I think there is some penetrating oil in it also.

for really dark, it took like six coats.

i remember dad sometimes just using an old rag to apply on the first few coats.

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very dark brew coffee makes a wonderful light stain as well

sumack (spelling?) berries (red) make a great oddly rosey color stain or beet juice

walnut hulls (not the shell but the hull that gets you hands all greenish) make a wonderful one pass dark stain that unmistakable. it is so different in look that you will want to know what color it is,, so if you ever find out what that color is then tell me cause i have no clue.
you boil them in a pot outside ,, you do not ever touch the stain with you bare skin. you dont even think about using rubber gloves and you barely trust leather gloves.
you apply it simply with a brush but control the angle of the brush as to not let it get on the handle.... (maybe you could spray it on like people who have learned lessons do.)
be careful is what i am saying. apply this stuff to any wood and there is not a single insect on planet earth that would ever want anything to do with it.



i come from a long line of wood workers,, who were not rich either so ............