Epifanes Wood Finish Matte (500 ml)

This is the nicest varnish I have worked with.

Disclaimer: I am not a woodworker or finisher. First I brushed on 2 coats of gloss on front cherry door. Looked very uneven with gloss and dull areas. Then made the mistake of applying this matte product right out of the can (without thinning). Nightmare brush strokes and drip marks and uneven areas where I tried in vain to correct. But somehow when this mess dried completely in around 4 hours, it looked much better. But still not good. Then I read about the product, which I should have done the first time, and saw recommendations for thinning. Second coat I thinned by 10-15% and went on much better but still difficult and not great. But somehow, when it all dried, it looked great. The super matte finish is extremely forgiving because it doesn't catch any reflections. Very happy now and will follow up with 0000 steel wool and paste wax for perfection. Unless someone comments here that this is a terrible thing to do.

I built an outdoor table out of cedar a couple years ago, and used a variety of finishings claiming to be weather proof. None of them lasted more than 2 months, with failures such as cracking, pealing of the finish, or greying of the wood. This year I am trying to refinish the table top with Epifanes. After carefully stripping away the old finish, I applied 6 coats of Epifanes Clear Varnish diluted with Epifanes Thinner (50%, 25%, 12%, 6%, 0%, and lastly 0% thinner) and finished with one coat of Epifanes Wood Finish Matte. I sanded with 320 grit paper between each coat. I found that 1 day between coats is sometimes not enough, as the surface was still a little tacky. The end result looks really good, however we will have to see how it holds up. I plan to sand and add 1 coat every year. I will try to remember to update my comment.

I put down 4 coats of the wood finish gloss on a maple door, let it dry, sanded, and then followed by 2 coats of this matte. My observations: 1) the matte is not as thick and soupy as the gloss. 2) it doesn't "level" as nicely as the gloss did. It seems to dry WAY faster; not sure if that is because it is thinned considerably or what. I suppose that is OK if you expect it (which i didn't). Certain spots were drying in as little as 5 mins (by dry i mean they looked like holidays) - this was being applied indoors at about 60degF. 3) It was kind of a pain to apply. Even though it was already more fluid, and you aren't really supposed to thin it, i found it went on most easily when thinned about 20%. Tough to explain why this was. It seemed like it wasn't uniform (yes i stirred it). Some spots were difficult to "pull" into the areas which had already been applied. 4) Now that it is dry, the matte finish seems to accentuate the areas which have a slightly thicker coating to them. Tough to explain - my wife says no one will ever notice once the door is hung, but to me it is clear as day sitting on the sawhorses. Not sure my next step here yet... 5) As far as the finish; it is matte as expected. Kind of a light frost finish. In retrospect, I wish I had left it gloss as the gloss stuff was AWESOME, SMOOTH, and made the grain of the wood look like it was trapped in glass. oh well, too late now. Overall I give this 3 stars. Mainly because of how differently it applies compared to the gloss, and how it didn't level as well.

Easy to apply, its not fussy about conditions. I roll it on with a 4" 3/8 nap Home Depot "no lint" roller and it looks showroom. Lint from most rollers will mess up your project. Even with these great rollers, blow them off or use masking tape beforehand to get the smallest bit of lint, or whatever, off your new roller. And thin the Epifanes about 10%. Apply with a heavy hand.