John R Weiss wrote:

"Brian Nystrom" wrote...

You can easily achieve a satin finish with gloss varnish by rubbing it
out with fine Scotchbrite, steel wool or bronze wool. It's actually a
bit nicer than using satin varnish, since you don't have the flatting
agent hiding the wood grain.


The Interlux satin varnish I used as final coats on my floorboards doesn't
significantly hide the grain. Maybe I'll try the bronze wool on the gloss
varnish next time, but it sounds like more work (and risk) than I'd like...

Used as only a top coat, I wouldn't imagine that satin varnish would
have much of a hiding effect.

Ron beat me to the punch on the stocking and renewal issues.

Actually, dulling a gloss finish isn't much work. You're not sanding
hard and you're using very fine grain abrasives. You will produce a fair
amount of fine dust unless you wet the surface, but that makes it harder
to tell if it's uniform.