Has anyone here tried Dammar or other clear artist's varnish on silk wraps?

I was thinking of trying a coat or two of this before dipping in Spar varnish.

I've used Winston&??? (the brand you find at all art stores That I can't remember right now) I've used their retouching varnish and exterior varnish. The retouching is clear but takes forever to dry completely and does not build up. The exterior is nice. Gives good penatration and dries well. Small bottle so you are not wasteing alot also. Only problem is I can't find it anymore. My local store is going to try and special order it.
HTH
Gary

Mark;
I've tried it. It is about 90% turpentine, or so it seems, and takes forever to dry on it's own. Flood the wraps with the first coat, then put on a second coat of spar varnish in an hour or so, the dryers in the spar will make the Dammar set up. Let dry for at least 24 hrs, then finish coating the wraps as usual before you dip the rod. I think warmed Man-O-War works just as well.
john

Because I have never built a rod, I can't speak for the usefulness of damar varnish in this particular application. But because I am an artist I can speak a bit about damar in general.
Damar is soluble in turpentine, but not in mineral spirits, and that is one of the things that makes it useful as an artist's medium. It dries fairly hard, though it can be brittle, and so it is usually mixed with linseed oil. Mixing it with linseed oil will slow the drying time; straight damar varnish dries pretty quickly, depending on the thickness of application. Retouch varnish is a thinned version of damar.
Winsor Newton is one supplier for damar varnish at art supply stores. Grumbacher is another. Utrecht has stores in a couple of major cities, as well as an internet catalog, and you can buy damar crystals from them so that you can mix your own damar varnish. Basically, you suspend a cheesecloth bag of crystals in turpentine unitl they dissolve. That way you may get any strength that you desire.
Winsor Newton also makes an acrylic based varnish that is soluble in mineral spirits, but not in turpntine, called Winton picture varnish. It is very clear (damar yellows) and is more flexible than damar. When I am varnishing my paintings this is what I use.

Hope this is helpful, Rob

THANKS!!!!