Deglossing a Waterlox finish: how long until fully cured?

I have finished applying six rag-wiped coats of Waterlox Original Medium Sheen to the new, unfinished white oak table (24 hours drying time between coats, light 320-grit sanding, vacuuming and tack cloth also between each coat). Current plans are to go over the table with a white Scotch-Brite to degloss the finish, and I've read that it is best to wait until the finish is fully cured.

Requesting net-wisdom estimates for how long I need/should wait to do the deglossing.

The last coat was put on four days ago; after drying/curing in the

60-degree basement for four days, the various table pieces are now upstairs where the air is 70 degrees with 50% humidity.

Re: using white Scotch-Brite to do the deglossing -- any suggestions for a better method also appreciated.

Reply to
Ladd Morse
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good luck deglossing a medium sheen with the white pads! I just used a white one on semi gloss and it turned out every so slightly glossier, not that I minded. Some folks are big on waiting ages to touch a new surface with anything. I did mine the next day, but I wouldn't want to put liquids and a power buffer to it for quite a while to be sure. I rubbed gently.

dave

Ladd Morse wrote:

Reply to
Bay Area Dave

Are you suggesting that white Scotch-Brite is too fine a "grit" and that I should use a coarser one?

I've got some gray pads ...

Always my intention, regardless of what I'm rubbing. :-)

Ladd

Reply to
Ladd Morse

Ladd,

TRY the white one for a few moments and see what it does; the gray one might give you a less glossy surface than a medium sheen finish. All mfg's products don't dry to the same sheen, even with the same general descriptions like "semi-gloss" or "satin". All you can do is try first what you think will work, and if the results don't match your expectation, switch pads. It won't hurt to spend a few minutes using the white one. You'll know pretty quickly if the sheen is going flatter.

dave

Ladd Morse wrote:

Reply to
Bay Area Dave

Which is why (pick Supreme Being of choice) invented "undersides". :-)

Thanks for the advice!

Still looking forward to hearing from other folks also.

Ladd

Reply to
Ladd Morse

There is NO grit in the white pads. They are for polishing. Tales of a Boatbuilder Apprentice

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Reply to
Dave Fleming

Yes, there is no grit in the Scotch-Brite pads. Hence my putting the word in quotes, because it was the easiest way to distinguish the varous roughnesses of the differing pads.

I would be happy to use the official and possibly less confusing terminology when I know what it is.

Regards, Ladd

Reply to
Ladd Morse

:-)

Ladd

Reply to
Ladd Morse

On Mon, 8 Dec 2003 10:22:40 -0500, snipped-for-privacy@his.com (Ladd Morse) brought forth from the murky depths:

Agreed.

I'd give it a week in the warmth and then degloss with Johnson's paste wax on the pad. Or I'd use a crappy lemon oil gunk after deglossing if I weren't going to wax. It will even out the sheen before it dissipates in a few months. I used that on my first kitchen cabinet doors (back before I found out why I would always again try to avoid poly) after deglossing. I oiled 'em 3 times a year after that.

I've used the extra-fine gray or worn-out maroon scotchbrite but not the white. How well does the white work on Waterlox? The white pads are much less abrasive.

-- Sex is Evil, Evil is Sin, Sin is Forgiven. Gee, ain't religion GREAT?

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Reply to
Larry Jaques

LOL, JOAT I have just about all the Dave comments from 2001 and 2010. I din't download them. Folks just seem to send 'em to me.

Back to the topic of the thread. I have NO experience with hard type finishes. I leave advice on that to others who do. I was merely commenting on the 'grit' remark re: White Scotch Pads. Tales of a Boatbuilder Apprentice

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Reply to
Dave Fleming

I try to wait a week if I can in 70+ degree environment before rubbing out a Waterlox finish. I have tried the white Scotch-Brite, but go back to 0000 Steel Wool and wax as it seems to give a more uniform and softer glow. Have had the best luck with Arborwax, but have used everything from Briwax to Trewax. Buff a little after the wax/steel wool and you will have a very fine finish that never fails to get questions about "how did you get such a nice finish".

I have also used this technique with polyurethane as the base varnish, to rescue a piece from the dreaded plastic coated look and feel (grin).

Sawblade

Reply to
Sawblade

You got the Hard Drive space JOAT?

And to keep from futher intruding on the topic of the thread let's take it off group OK? Tales of a Boatbuilder Apprentice

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Reply to
Dave Fleming

Oh ya mean THAT dave!!!!! Tales of a Boatbuilder Apprentice

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Reply to
Dave Fleming

Glad you cleared that up. Maybe Mr. T can get some shut-eye tonight. After he goes to Walmart for some 'stinguishers, that is.

dave

Dave Flem>>Mon, Dec 8, 2003, 4:00pm (EST-3) (Dave Fleming) asks:

Reply to
Bay Area Dave

The other dave, sorry meant to put a smiley or two in that previous post.

PAX

Tales of a Boatbuilder Apprentice

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Reply to
Dave Fleming

No problemo, Dave! :)

dave

Dave Flem>>Glad you cleared that up. Maybe Mr. T can get some shut-eye tonight.

Reply to
Bay Area Dave

Received an email from the folks at Waterlox and they said I could expect the finish to be fully cured in 3-5 days. So your advice is pretty close. And either time frame is much quicker than I had expected.

As the table will be used in the kitchen, the protection purportedly offered by Waterlox was one of the major reasons for selecting that particular finish. Putting wax on top of this finish seems to be reducing the "little-to-no-care" and "protection from water and other common kitchen chemicals" aspects. If it turns out that the look presented by waxing the table is really what I wanted from the beginning and didn't know it, I'm guessing I should have gone with an oil finish to begin with.

Unless you were saying that the wax was to be used as part of the deglossing process AND removed afterward (using mineral spirits or whatever), in which case I am now more educated than I was before. :-)

I have both white and gray, so I'll give both a try on the underside of the table leaves and see what happens. Looking forward to your response regarding the waxing question above.

Regards,

Ladd

Reply to
Ladd Morse

Received an email from the folks at Waterlox and they said I could expect the finish to be fully cured in 3-5 days. So your advice is pretty close. And either time frame is much quicker than the month I had expected.

As the table will be used in the kitchen, the protection purportedly offered by Waterlox was one of the major reasons for selecting that particular finish. Putting wax on top of this finish seems to be reducing the "little-to-no-care" and "protection from water and other common kitchen chemicals" aspects.

However, if it turns out that the look presented by waxing the table is really what I wanted from the beginning and didn't know it until now, I'm guessing I should have gone with an oil finish to begin with.

Reading older messages in this newsgroup via Google, I recall clearly one poster saying that it would be best to use Scotch-Brite instead of steel wool, as the tanins in the oak, even covered with multiple coats of finish, would eventually react with whatever small bits of steel wool are left behind and cause discoloration. Sounded good to me, so I purchased both white and gray pads.

Reply to
Ladd Morse

On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 21:23:38 -0500, snipped-for-privacy@his.com (Ladd Morse) brought forth from the murky depths:

I like to wait a week, especially after a whole lot of coats. Finishes should NEVER be rushed, EVER.

Waterlox is just an oil finish with varnish in it for a buildable layer. It's great stuff.

I had forgotten that you wanted a kitchen table finish and yes, you can either forego the wax or remove it later. It might help ease the deglossing process.

Be sure to use them in the direction of the grain. You'll end up with a "brushed" finish. The wax would otherwise hide the against-grain or orbital scratch marks.

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Reply to
Larry Jaques

Fortunately, that advice will be easy to follow. I'll be experimenting tomorrow morning with the underside of the table leaves -- the last coat went on them about three weeks ago as they were the very first thing I worked on. By the time I get through those undersides, then the undersides of the table, then the legs of the table, then back to the leaf tops, not only should I have a better idea of how this process is going to work, but the table top itself will have well over a week of warm, dry curing time. :-)

good to know, thanks.

I'm sufficiently new to this whole process that I have yet to learn of any case when it is good to go AGAINST the grain! :-)

My guess it would usually been at the start of construction when one wants to remove material quickly and plan on doing lots of with-the-grain sanding afterwards. Not applicable to my particular project (adding finish to a purchased, unfinished table), but I can imagine it being an integral part of many projects.

Reply to
Ladd Morse

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