David A.T.

Just an update. I completely failled this last trial. After driing I got something I was unable to solve in turpentine and oil. Probably did again a mistake somewhere. ... THE END (for this post)

Quick update at D+5 days. The drops do not stick to the finger, but they are soft. I can press them and feel the inside varnish is soft. Only the surface is ok. Let s wait 3 days more. Then I will do an other test with more oil and more thinner (turpentine). On the other side I tried to give some color to the mixture with Madder. It seems the color passed well in the varnish. I put a drop on ceramic and a mapple test plate on which some clear varnish was applied long ago. It is yet much too thick though. But i feel this way interesting (at least for me). I will let dry few days this stuff and start a new mixture.

2 of my drops are a bit thick due to they are not diluted with thinner. The one in the middle is diluted and thin. Any explanation about the UV action? As far I know in painting the oil dry with O2 that get in between oil molecules during drying and make the film hard. But UV i don't know how it physically works. From my experience I found difficult to have good Sun UV exposure with oil varnish because the outside dust come and stick to the varnish. So i dry through a Window.

The raw oil cooked with Damar made something very viscous. A bit like venitian turpentine with amber color.

Thank you for your article( great job !) and contribution in this post. in the Tolbecque Book, there are receipts with Damar and Mastic. 2 parts Mastic / 1 part Dammar./1 to 2part oil They are prepared at room temperature (or water bath, but not higher) and then diluted with Turpentine. Due to Mastic cost I started only with Dammar - which is really a cheap resin and recommanded by the shop as similar to Mastic. But I probably miss the Mastic properties in my mixture. The Hammerl book also recommand to cook at high temperature the resin. It could be an esay test to take one part of my mixture Dammar/oil/Turpentine and dissovle some Mastic in it.

It looks nice ! I just try DIY, having fun in making receips, and rediscovering the wheel

Thank you Davide. In the Damar section he recommends to cook the resin till it becomes dark without giving the reason why it requires to go so far . I had no trouble at all to dissolve the Damar with oil while it was orange. Maybe I will have more trouble with the driing time. After day1, the drop are not dry yet.

I tried to look for it on google. But don't find. Only a broken link.

Thank you very much for sharing . I will order a sample and make a try to see the difference. Note that some receips recommand boiled oil, but some recommand raw oil. This one is not boiled.

It might be a good reason. I am not sure about the expected result. It seems I still can print my finger on the sample after few secs pressing. I bought my oil by 2 good dealers but maybe not good enough for violin varnish. I did so many trials that i will run out of stock soon. I don t know how to ask you. But let' s try . Maybe can you share a good Italian ( or not) linseed oil dealer?

Linseed oil should dry within a week. So I don't understand how the quantity should affect the dring property of the mixture.

Thank you. True. I made much more, and for sure too much. But if it fails I will use it for my garden. Outdoor wood always require some protections.

Diluted with 1/3 turpentine. It diluted quickly as the oil+resin was still warm. I add one drop in the middle on the test plate. Left : 1/2 fine linseed oil + 1/2Dammar . 6 hour backed at 190C Right : Same with coocked linseed oil from the shop. Middle : 2/3 Right sample + 1/3 turpentine. I expect/hope it becomes hard after 1 week. I also did a drop on mapple from the middle sample to see if it harden differently as on ceramic.

Thank you for the tips. So far I jusk cooked them together and got this. For sure it can't be used as this. Too thick. I will let few days to see if the drop trials on white ceramic becomes hard. In the same time I will dilute a sample with turppentine. I will start with 1/3 turpentine and see.