Order of Operations to Refinish Tabletop: Poly Stays Tacky

[frank1492]

I was making good progress on this- had applied two coats of oil stain and the surface seemed dry. Water marks pretty much gone. Maybe I didn't wait long enough (it was at least 12 hours) after applying the stain, but after about 24 hours the poly (Minwax fast-drying) is still slightly tacky. I have the table top in a good warm area. Is this hopeless or should I be patient? And if I need to remove the finish, can I do so without affecting the stain underneath. Also what solvent to use. The saga continues... Frank

[ransley]

Be patient.

[DD_BobK]

what are the local weather conditions? Temp & humidity?

Drying times for various products vary a lot depending on local conditions.

The stain may not have shed all of its solvents........ 12 hours seems a bit short.

Your heated space should be helping but if the room is really small you might consider venting occasionally.

Fans or heaters greatly decrease drying time. My buddy & I salvaged an old ceiling mount heater / fan unit that we use to heat a room or the garage to speed drying.

Even in SoCal we can get weather (damp & cold....not MN cold but paint cold) where paint takes forever to dry. Esp epoxies where temp is key.

I would agree with giving it more time but .....holiday deadline? :(

If the stain wasnt dry, now that the finish is over it.....pretty much oyu just have to wait.

cheers Bob

[frank1492]

Thanks. If you mean Thanksgiving, no that's not a deadline- Christmas is! I really did think it would dry eventually but I needed reassurance! Now, when this *does* dry, it will need another coat. I assume I won't have to go through this again. Frank

[dadiOH]

1. Oil stain doesn't dry in 12 hours. If the stain wasn't dry it wouldn't matter if you used oil base poly. Did you?
2. Poly shouldn't still be tacky after 24 hours. How thick did you put it on?
3. Yes, you need another coat. Poly needs 2-3 if you want it to look decent.

You can't put more on now until what you have there is dry. Really dry. When it is, you'll have to sand it a bit. Had you put on another coat within eight hours (if oil poly) there would have been no need to sand. I usually do coat #2 after about four hours (when I can walk on it), coat #3 about four hours after that.

[ransley]

It should be the stain was wet and second coat will be ok ive had it happen, but recently I use som Benjamin Moore exterior oil paint that is still soft and smelly after 1 month. So it could be the poly if it was oil base and they ran out of dryer. Just wait and see, it will eventualy cure. Test the poly on something different to see what it does.