How to Apply the Last Coat of Poly for a Dining Table Top?

[jaykchan]

What you have suggested is totally different from what the instruction on the can of wipe-on-poly says. This really makes me interested.

Seem like you are rubbing in the poly wet, instead of rubbing the dry/hardened poly. May I ask you the following questions:

If I understand you correctly, you rub the wipe-on-poly until it is dry instead of waiting the poly to dry naturnally, right? And this is the key to reduce the chance of getting dusts on the surface, right?

How soon do you put on the next coat? Do you wait for the poly to completely hardened and then light-sand it, and then rub in the next coat? Do you immediately put on the next coat right after you have rubbed in the wipe-on-poly to dry? How long does 10 coats of doing this take you?

Does this work on a surface that has already had 6 coats of poly and is completely flat and smooth and no wood grain?

How does the finish look after 10 coats of your way of rubbing in the wipe-on-poly? Should I expect to see a semi-gloss finish or a gloss finish assuming that I am using clear-gloss wipe-on-poly?

Sorry for that many questions. But I have never heard about this way of applying wipe-on-poly, and this way seems to be very promising.

Thanks in advance for any further info about this way of applying wipe-on-poly.

Jay Chan

[kellyj00]

Someone update this, I wanna know how it worked out! Take some pictures too!

[DJ Delorie]

I don't know about the other person's project, but I'm working on a top for a pair of corner cabinets for our dining room, and so far they're coming out OK. The things I noted while I was doing it:

I only use the first 1/4" or so of the brush. Very little poly, thin coats, the brush almost feels "dry" by the time I re-dip. I ended up using half as much poly as the can says to expect.

The dryer brush near the end of each dip-brush cycle seems to be better at getting rid of the bubbles.

Even though the slabs are hanging vertically, there are no runs :-)

Also, I'm using the SLOWEST drying poly they offer - one coat per day. The fast drying stuff seems to not give the poly time to settle, time for the bubbles to pop, etc. It also seemed to run more, and the runs dried before they could flatten out.

My coating schedule: two coats super fast drying sanding sealer (hey, I'm going to sand the bumps out anyway) to seal the pores. I almost sanded back down to wood, but this is red oak so there's plenty of sealer left in the pores. Next, two thin coats of slow-drying gloss poly (the first was today), followed by a coat of satin. If I need to, I'll do a 50/50 coat of satin, rubbed on, after that.

[jaykchan]

Not sure if you are addressing to me or to DJ Delorie.

Anyway, I haven't applied the final coat of wipe-on-poly yet because I was waiting for DJ Delorie's reply on his method of rubbing wipe-on-poly. Well, I guess he is not going to reply, and I will have to use another method that I found in this newgroup, and I will do this in this evening:

o Yesterday, I sanded the surface down very smooth to remove the dusts that landed on the coat of wipe-on-poly that I applied the other day.

o This evening, I will run the air cleaner for one hour to remove all the dusts. Then, I will apply two thin coats of wipe-on-poly on the surface in quick succession. I plan on waiting for one hour between coats to let the poly to dry to touch before applying the second coat. I will _not_ sand between coats. After two coats, I will wait another hour and then use wipe-on-poly to touch up areas that are not shiny -- again, no sanding before applying wipe-on-poly to touch up.

Hope this will finish this refinishing project that has been going on for one month.

Jay Chan

[kellyj00]

Sounds kinda like how I do floors... it takes forever.

I use a synthetic bristle brush and thin the poly to 50/50. the first coat is really sparse and is absorbed by most of the white oak, then apply another coat of 50% gloss poly / 50% thinner... starts to look better.

Then sand with 400 grit paper, then put a final coat of about 30% poly /70% thinner on top. This leaves a pretty good finish, but it takes FOREVER to get rid of all the bubbles, and you've gotta use a very very strong flashlight and put your cheek on the floor to see them.

[jaykchan]

And, you cannot get to use the room... This should give you a lot of incentive to finish the job quickly.

The parts that I don't quite understand are:

o Why there are many bubbles if you have already thinned the poly significantly? I got bubbles only when I lightly thinned the poly. When I use the wipe-on-poly (that I believe is thinned to 50/50), I don't have any bubble.

o How exactly did you manage to remove the bubbles after they were already there? This is the part that I really want to know in case next time when I need to high build the finish for rubbing finish.

By the way, last night I applied three coats of wipe-on-poly on the dining table. That process took much longer than I thought because the temperature in my unheat basement is not high; therefore, the wipe-on-poly took much longer than I had planned to dry enough for me to apply the next coat. As of the result... Good enough for my own use, but not good enough as something that I can be proud of. Even after running the air cleaner for a couple hours, I still have dusts on the surface here and there. Moreover, the sheen is still not even. But it is good enough for the intended purpose; therefore, I will stop the project right here. Next time if I need to create a show-piece, I will definitely try rubbing the finish.

Jay Chan

[Henry St.Pierre]

[e-mail] wrote in news:1166031265.407511.211760 @l12g2000cwl.googlegroups.com:

FWIW Jay. After you run the air cleaner, let the shop stay still for two days. This time will give the dust that was circulated by the air cleaner time to settle. Make certain that you use a tack cloth before the next coat. Hank

[jaykchan]

Sound like I started putting on the last coat too soon after I had run the air cleaner. And wipe-on-poly didn't dry that fast in the unheated basement. These two factors resulted with me having dusts on the wet wipe-on-poly.

I will not correct this until X'mas is over and I can leave the poly some time to completely hardened (let's say one month). Then, I plan to light sand it and try rubbing finish. Hopefully, this will be good enough. But if I end up sanding through the three coats of thin wipe-on-poly, I may have to apply a thick coat of poly and wait another month and try rubbing finish again.

Jay Chan

[J. Clarke]

I'm a little puzzled as to why you're having to put this much work into wipe-on polyurethane. Just sand smooth, wipe on, let set for the recommended time, repeat until you're happy with the finish. No elaborate dust-control measures needed.

Sounds like wipe-on poly just isn't the right finish for you--spend the $125 for a gallon of precatalyzed lacquer and a Woodcraft HVLP gun. Dries hard enough to sand in 40 minutes or so, not enough time for it to pick up much dust, and you can sand and polish it as bright as you want.

[jaykchan]

I didn't see dusts in the air when I point a spot-light through the air before I applied the wipe-on-poly. I was quite surpised to see the amount of dusts that landed on the wet wipe-on-poly. My thinking is that my two sons running around and jumping around on the floor right above where the table was (it was in the basement) might have something to do with the amount of dusts ending up on the table surface -- I am not very sure.

I also have the same feeling that wipe-on-poly is not the right finish for me. I am thinking of either using a brush-on-poly or a completely different finish (that I will put on top of the wipe-on-poly). Honestly, I am not going to buy or use a HVLP gun because I doubt that I will have much use of it in other projects. At this point, I am not sure what type of finish that I will put on top of the wipe-on-poly; but this is the direction that I likely will go.

Jay Chan