JoeyT

Thank you everyone for the responses!!! I prepared another jar of varnish, and added only a minimal amount of turp and then thinned with spike lavender oil, and it seemed to have solved the problem. I tried it on another instrument and it seem to be fine so far. I suppose I must have put too much turp already when cooking the varnish, maybe. The varnish is the only variable I changed this time from the previous five times. I only scrape (off the specks of dust etc) between layers and never tried sanding it. As for silicone, I don’t think I have anything silicon based in my shop, but if it’s in so many products I will make sure to check everything I bring into my shop just in case it contains silicone. Thank you, thank you everyone. I hope this doesn’t happen again, fingers crossed.

I have varnished about 5 instruments before but this is the first time I am varnishing using the varnish I mixed myself. I had tanned the instrument, put on chemical (to darken it more), ground, protein layer, and a clear coat prior to varnishing. The first coat went on fine, but after I put on the second coat, when I went to check on it half a day later (I put it in a UV lightbox), my varnish has pulled away from the wood at some areas and beading up. I don’t know if it’s because I put in too much turpentine or spike lavender oil. Please advise!! Thank you in advance!!