Customer Reviews for Varathane 1 qt. Clear Matte Water-Based Interior Polyurethane

I was a bit worried since it seemed very watery compared to what I was used to but it applied extremely well. It settled out very nicely making any brush stroke pretty much disappear. Other than raised grain I do not think we would have had to do much if any sanding between coats. Very nice product. Great end result for our simple desktop construction.

I love this product it was easy to applied and it doesn't smell like oil does.

I applied with sprayer to cornhole set and it worked well.

Peals off easily! Does not still well to wood

I used this on an oak desk I built and it was the first time I used a water based poly. I brushed the first coat on and it dried to the touch within an hour. I ended up spraying subsequent coats on with an HVLP spray gun with a 1.7 mm tip to save time. I sanded only the desk top between coats and put the entire quart on the desk. It came out phenomenal. This poly does not have the amber tint that oil based polyurethanes do. The wood looks clean and natural.

Really nice product. Did what it was manufactured for and above that point, it cleaned up SUPER EASY !! I used warm water to clean up my Wagner sprayer, which was used to apply it to the area. Nothing about this product was worthy of a negative word, I liked it and highly recommend it.

Varathane clear gloss water based polyurethane worked out well. Took about 4 light coats and some light 280grit hand sanding after the 1st and 2nd coat. Applied the clear gloss over red water base red dye.

I utilized this product to put a clear coat on my new kitchen table, that I built. The can of clear coat was enough to put on 4 layers on the top of the table along with the frame. I used a paint sprayer but you can utilize a HVLP (recommended) or just brush it on. I don't have a HVLP, so that may be my next purchase. I sanded in-between layers to ensure a smooth surface. Been happy with both the matte and gloss options. I would use this product again.

Excellent product!

I needed a non-glossy finish for a project that I had given a weathered wood look to in order to preserve the type of look I was going for in the final finish of the project. Varathane Ultimate did the trick. It was also fast-drying, which was a plus because I had a lot of surfaces to cover. So by the time I was finished covering the last surface, the first surface had already dried and was ready for another coat. That was a time saver because it helped me finish the project in half the time since I didn't have to wait for hours between coats. I would high recommend this product.

I love the matte look. It’s perfect for a table I redid. I put 3 coats and sanded after the first coat but didn’t on the others. Turned out great.

I chose this product due to it's claimed quick dry time and lack of odor, however, upon application and drying, caused severe discoloration of my newly refinished 100yr old floors. Instruction were followed to a T and the stain was thoroughly dried prior to Varathane application. Application of this product caused the color to leach out of the wood. Please refer to the attached pictures.

Quick dry, more than I expected, would definitely buy again

Easy to use and easy to clean up! Finished piece looks amazing. Nice clear finish allowing the wood grain to show through beautifully!

Product was easy to use and easy to clean up. Remember to use multiple coats for the best outcome, depending on whatever you are protecting. Since I was doing a bathroom shelf, I applied multiple coats for maximum protection.

We used the Varathane water-based satin to seal tongue and groove paneling in a new addition at our house. We left the knotty pine natural with no stain before sealing and will let the wood naturally darken with age. The product was easy to apply with a 4" brush for latex paints. We applied three coats per the instructions on the can (an answer from Rustoleum in the "questions" section recommends four coats). We found three coats to be fully adequate. The paneling is smooth with no brush marks and the urethane gives the grain in the wood excellent depth. The satin finish has a slight sheen that gives the wood a nice polished appearance without being shiny. We reapplied each successive coat in about four hours so no steel wool was required between coats. Clean up is a breeze with warm water and a small amount of soap.

I used this finish because it was a crystal clear on a gray stained furniture piece I built after, 4 coats there is absolutely no durability. I did not even get the piece out of my shop and my fingernail would leave marks in the finish from just a slight touch. I am not a novice at woodworking and have built many pieces and finished perfectly with oil based finishes but waterborne finishes while environmentally friendly are terrible. The finish was dry a week and still the slightest touch the would leave me upset. I switched to an oil product and am having no problems anymore. I will keep with the oil finish on all my future projects.

Easy to apply. Looks great.

Love this, but you need to do several coats. Drys quick.

So far so good. I heard if it’s applied to thick it will yellow in the long term.

I've used Varathane water-based polyurethane on several projects, but typically buy satin finish. However, for my current project, I needed to seal reclaimed wood without detracting from the texture and beauty by making it look like it had a finish on it, so I tried matte. It worked wonderfully! The matte water-based polyurethane allowed me to seal and protect some rough reclaimed beams from a 100+ year old tobacco barn, and an old painted & re-painted cabinet door from a factory that I have turned into a queen headboard. It protected the barn beam wood while still allowing you to see and feel the texture of the reclaimed wood, and the matte finish didn't have the plastic look you can get from glossy polyurethane. It slightly darkened the very dry wood from the moisture, but much less than shellac or lacquer in my test samples. It also did not add any color over the painted surfaces of the door, but sealed and protected the paint from chipping off any more. Tips for application: 1) Don't be shocked when you see it white in the can and when you first apply. That's normal and it dries completely clear. See photo with the beam partially coated. 2) Water-based polyurethane has an almost magical ability to self-level so you don't see brush strokes, but it dries very quickly, so you should NOT try to "touch it up" after brushing. Just brush it on, maybe level it off with the tip of the brush immediately after each brush stroke if needed, and then leave it alone until it dries completely. 3) That magical ability to self-level even worked on extremely rough surfaces, although I did need to pull a little extra out of puddles using the tip of a dry brush. 4) If you apply to bare wood (especially very dry wood), expect the first coat to use a lot of polyurethane and slightly darken the wood from the moisture since it soaks in to the fibers a bit. Subsequent coats will flow on smoother, take much less to cover it, and dry completely clear. An excellent product - I highly recommend it. Click on the thumbs up below if you found this review helpful!

Make the floors look like new

I wanted a sealer that would not make my refinished furniture glossy and this one was perfect. There is a slight shine, but the finish is nice and not glossy.

used on blue pine for our ceiling. it is perfect, low shine and brings out the color in the pine nicely. low order so easy to work with indoors.

Easy to apply! Weather was a little cool and took a little longer to dry! Looked great!

I gave this a 4 star rating because the issues I have with this and all water base polyurethanes is the bubbles they leave even when you do your best efforts applying it. But when you get it right it looks awesome and the clean up is easy. You should use a quality brush and don't rake off the excess from your brush back into the can; use a different can and pour it back in when done, because it creates bubble that you pick up on your next dip with the brush. Also if you are careful you can touch the bubbles with a tooth pick or something sharp to pop them, but do wait too long after applying it. Of course this is done only one the last coat because you will sand the previous coat or coats. One last thing, I found it better to apply the coats in a cool environment between 65 - 68 degrees so it drys slower allowing you more time to eliminate bubbles.

Quick dry, easy to recoat and clean up. Non yellowing so far²

I used it on some cabinets and they turned out nice!

Great poly. I use it to top coat my furniture for my small buissness. Very durable, dries fast. Nice even coverage.

The project was tedious and challenging but totally worth it. Steps I used are as follows (with lots of drying time in between): sand the tile with 150 grit sandpaper, deep clean, caulk the grout lines to disguise flaws (we had a lot of cracks in grout, 2 coats of Kilz bonding primer, 3 coats of base gray chalk paint, 1 coat of linen white chalk paint, then fine paint detailing to make the edges sharper since some of the paint bleeds through the stencil (I used a clean old makeup brush). I finished up with 3 coats of Rust-Oleum Satin finish polyurethane to protect everything. I used spray glue to try and prevent bleeding by spraying the stencil, then rolling on the white paint. Even though I used gorilla spray glue, I had some bleeding so I used the makeup brushes to clean up the edges. The glue was helpful; when I tried without it, the bleeding was much worse. Toward the end, I cut the Nagoya Tile Stencil to make getting around the nooks and crannies easier. If you have a little space you might want to buy two so you have one to trim down.