Tools
Buy the best you can afford - it does make a difference!
Save cleaning your brushes every time you varnish - buy a 'Brush Master' brush keeper box from a good decorator's merchant. You can keep different sized brushes in this so that you don't have to worry about 'making do' to save messing up another brush. This works by having a solvent gauze tucked in the side (you buy a replacement when the indicator tell you to) and all you do is suspend your used brush in the box and ensure the lid is sealed. We used this last winter, the brushes are good to go this year and still don't need to change the gauze!
Buy the brush keeper box above and the money you save on time, brush cleaner and the number of brushes you would thrown away anyway mean you can spend your money on buying seriously good varnish brushes. The finish you get is well worth it!
Varnish
We have a personal preference here. Looking on various forums as part of our intial research we elected to use the traditional Epifanes Gloss Finish. It is expensive, but the finish it gives is superb (see the Cabin Cover page to see the mirror finish we got after seven coats).
We were working over winter in a cold garage and, depsite having to sometimes wait a couple of days before being able to apply the next coat due to the cold got good results. Apparently varnish needs good ventilation to drive off the solvents rather than temperature for the curing process (which was my assumption until I researched it).
Follow their instructions (their website Q and A section is great) and apply coats in the dilution series they recommend.
This link is really useful for detail about varnish application - http://www.defender.com/html/varnish.html
Varnish Timesaver
One thing I wanted to do in order to save time was to varnish washboards / locker covers on all sides at one session. I read somewhere that someone had created a frame rather like a bed of nails to do this so I set the other half to task and he came up with this:
It's really useful as it has enabled me to varnish all sorts of different things really easily and at a workable height for the back! The beauty of it is that there are no marks left on the underside either as the varnished pieces are literally held on a nail point. Word of warning though - be very careful where you store it when not in use or even when you are using it ...... not a good idea if you have children or animals flying around .... and I certainly take no responsibility if you elect to build one and use it.
Keeping the Dust Levels Down
Sounds obvious but an old vacuum cleaner does the trick when you're sanding to remove the heaviest dust from the items and surrounding areas.
Don't sweep your working area just before you get the varnish out - do it a few hours before or do all your sanding in one session, leave for a while then get in there with the vacuum cleaner again.
Use a water spray mister on the floor before you start if you haven't had a chance to clean the floor beforehand - prevents the dust kicking up too much as you walk around.
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