If you are brushing it, you could be getting dust nibs or your brushing technique needs brushing up. Also, it my help to thin the varnish a little. If I was doing it, I would use a black waterbased dye (Transtint) and spray with a gloss lacquer. Or, I would spray a black lacquer.
I've just finished installing a new pine balustrade in our (old Victorian)
> house. I dry fitted everything so I can take it apart to finish it as the
> spindles will be painted and the handrails/newel posts stained/varnished. I
> want to achieve a dark (bordering on ebony) colour with a high gloss. >
> I've experimented with various finishes on the handrail offcuts but I'm not
> having much luck and need advice please. So far I've tried wood dyes and
> then a coat of clear varnish on top, and also some of the poly based all in
> one coloured varnishes. I always seem to end up with a finish that looks
> like I've either got small nibs all over it, or it looks like the colour is
> just sitting on the top of the wood rather than being absorbed by it. By
> chance I visited someone who has the exact same handrail (which would have
> originally been fitted by a professional) and somehow they have achieved a
> finish I can only dream of with a high gloss top coat that looks like glass. >
> I'm obviously going seriously wrong somewhere - is there some magic formula
> or prep. I'm missing? I wonder if staining/varnishing is the wrong thing to
> do, maybe I should be looking at a French Polish type of finish? Any
> suggestions gratefully accepted as I'm running out of offcuts to experiment > on ;-) >
> --
> Steve Wright
>
>