Mixing two different products for the perfect sheen

Today we're going to be doing something really cool, mixing two different Clean Armor products to create a custom finish. Our main player is going to be the new 716 wiping varnish, and we're going to blend in some other Clean Armor finishes to achieve two key things. Bring down the sheen to a beautiful matte finish and boost the durability of that final coat. First up, let's talk about our mixing ratios. We're starting with 1 oz of Clean Armor 716 wiping varnish as our base. To that, we're going to be adding 1 oz of the other Clean Armor product. I'm going to be testing out three different options for that second component. We're going to be doing 705, 700, and 757 all in a matte sheen. I'm sure you've seen this test table before, right? It's been in a ton of my other videos, and today it's ready for action. I've prepped the surface by sanding it down to a super smooth 500 grit. Why so fine, you ask? Because Clean Armor products are amazing. They don't raise the grain, and as you know, I'm not a fan of excessive sanding. So, my goal here is to get a perfect finish in just two coats. We're going to start by making up all of our mixtures in four separate cups and labeling them clearly so that there's no confusion. I'll be applying each of these finishes to a designated square on our test table. The 716 wiping varnish will be on its own as our control and the other three squares will be for our test mixtures. I'll apply each mixture with the exact same method. And since today is beautiful weather in the Pacific Northwest, I'm opting to cure the table in the sunshine for 2 minutes instead of using my handheld UV light. All right, now that we're all mixed up, I have the 757. It's kind of an interesting a little bit of a bluish color to it. And of course, I indicated which which area each cup goes in as well. 705 kind of has like a u almost want to say like a peachy color to it now that it's mixed up. the 700, kind of that same peachy color. And then, as you can see, the 716 is really clear. It's just really crystal clear. Once we've added our second coat and our finishes are fully cured, we're going to take the tables outside into the sun. This will allow us to really see the sheen differences and determine exactly how much we can reduce the gloss level by adding these other clean armor products. All right, we're going to start with the 716. Pour just a little bit down here. Working it into the grain. Again, it doesn't matter what direction you go except at the very end. It's really what we care about.

We're just going to let that sit just like that. Let it integrate into the fibers. This is going to be our 700 here. Give it one last little mix. Make sure all those flattening agents are throughout.

All right, here's the 705 mixed with the 716. That's the 705. And here is the final 757. You can see how thick this is. 757's always the toughest finish to apply.

All right, here's the first coat. It's cured. And we'll look at the sheen here. Obviously, this is 716 right here. This is the 700, the 705, and the 757. It's very interesting. Now, this is only the first coat. So, we're going to look and see what it looks like for the second coat. But obviously a satin, a matte, a matte, and then a satin again, which is interesting because the 757 was a matte finish just like the 705 and the 700. So, let's add a second coat and see how it goes. All right, we're back here in the shop again and everything cured perfectly. There's no stickiness, nothing at all. So, what we're going to do now is we're just going to hit this with a little bit of uh 220 grit. Um, and just get this down just a little bit so we can put our final coats on.

All right, here's the final sheen test. So, here's the 757. Here's the 705. Here we have the 700. And here's the 716. And let's get a little tighter here so you can see the sheen differences on them. I would say the 716 is very satin. The 700 is definitely more towards the matte side. 705 is more towards the matte side. And just as I suspected, the 757 is a little glossier. Look at that sheen change again. It's really hard to pick up with the camera, but trust me, this is definitely a semi. And we're also looking at this in bright direct sunshine. So, uh, it's a little bit deceiving because everything is bright. So, we'll take this into the shop and we'll look again. All right, we're back in the shop and we're going to be looking at the sheen, not in the sunlight, but just in my shop lights. Now, you can remember from my previous video when we added flattening agents uh to the tabletops that we were looking at this bar light that's directly above me in my shop. We're looking at this light as we go from product to product. So here we have the 716 which is our control product cuz it's just 716. There's no mixture here. And that is a perfect satin if you ask me. Then we go to the 700 which was a mixture of 1 oz of 716 and 1 oz of the 700 in matte. And that is a definitely more of a matte finish. It definitely knocked down the sheen. You can see as we go from see it's shinier. You can see more of the grain in there to more diffuse. Then let's move on to the 705, which is the exterior finish. Again, 1 oz of 716 and 1 oz of the 705 in matte. And that is very matte as well. It really knocked down the sheen. But the interesting thing is when we go over here to the 757, that was a matte finish as well. Again, 1 oz of the 757 and 1 oz of the 716, but it did turn out a little bit shinier. To me, this uh the 757 and the 716 are equivalent. I can't see a real big difference in them. They're both more of a dull satin, not just a pure satin, but more of a dull satin. Uh, and yes, you're looking at a reflection in the bar light there, but when you really come and you see this with your own eyes and you feel it, it's really a nice satin finish. 

Obviously, we have the 716 over here, 700, 705, and 757. And this wasn't cured, but about 2 minutes ago, this was still wet. And so now what we're going to do is we're just going to do a quick little test here. So this is 99% uh isopropyl alcohol. So we're just going to just do a little tiny bit here, here, here, and here. And I have a little bit of acetone as well I'm going to use. I don't like to use acetone too much when I shop. Well, you can see it evaporating before it even hits the edge. That's crazy. So, we're going to let this sit just for a second.  All right. I think that's probably good for a torture test. I'm going to put a little bit isopropyl alcohol on a cloth and just wipe it down.

Pretty miraculous. No issues with the finish. That was just cured 2 minutes ago. Well, 2 and 1/2 minutes ago. Well, there you have it. The results speak for themselves. The 716 can be mixed with most other Clean Armor products. My personal favorite was the combination of the 700 and the 716. It made a really nice finish with a very soft sheen. All the combinations we applied to today were also chemically resistant. If you're interested in trying Clean Armor and want to purchase it from a woodworker who uses it daily on their own products, head over to my website, lightanddun.com. And if you want to see more content like this, please consider subscribing. Happy woodworking.