How long behtween coats of wiping poly?

What does the label on the can say?

I could go look at the can of poly, but wouldn't mixing it half and half wi th mineral spirits change the reapplication time?

In any case, I have just applied the second coat, roughly four hours after the first. In other words, I chickened out a little. The surface felt compl etely dry after 2 hours, but I wondered (and still do) if there was perhaps some sort of curing going on inside that the second coat would interfere w ith.

Hard to say, mineral spirits evaporates pretty fast but may have no effect on the drying agents in the product itself.

I don't think either coat has cured, that usually takes weeks. Dry does not mean cured. AND FWIW many products want you to apply another coat before 24 hours if you are going to do that. Typically successive coats will meld with previous coats if they have not yet cured.

And poly does not stick to cured poly very well. it needs a mechanical bond. So you want to read the directions for recoating. I don't use poly much so I can't answer, but I do know it does not adhere well to cured poly.

I took from these responses that it was probably OK to recoat after a couple of hours. I did six coats over the weekend, with anywhere from a couple of hours to overnight in-between. The result is looking promising. I may stop at this point and just rub it down with some brown paper or maybe some paste wax.

Typically if yo have no issue applying the next coat it will be OK. The biggest problem with too soon is that you damage the previous coat.

I would wait a at least a few days to tub with paper and maybe a month with wax.

If you do wax you can forgo the paper rub, apply the wax with 0000 steel wool.

The problem with rubbing is that it is soft, very soft. It takes a long time to truly harden. Sandpaper quickly fills , and the filled paper can gouge the finish.

One of the ways to sand or rub early is to use a lubricant. So for sanding wet dry paper, soap and water lubes the finish so you can start to level it off. it also opens the pores (flame shields on) so that it can gas off a little better (my opinion ) All oil and lacquer based are like this in my opinion. If I do level it off early, I always come back because it will require it to properly level it off.

Brown paper or even news paper are great on lacquer, I thought poly was too hard to be cut easily with it.

I used rottenstone and the wax on multiple coats of poly. Let it cure for about 2 weeks though. It makes a really nice finish after rubbed out and does not have the plastic look poly often has.

Speaking as someone who 1. is pretty inexperienced and 2. has forgotten some of the details of even my own slight experience, I'll say multiple coats of wiping poly can be effectively rubbed with brown paper.

I am attempting to repeat a finishing method that came out pretty well when I did it a few years back. The thinned poly was great for me, no drips, no inconsistencies, relatively smooth with fewer nibs than full-strength poly. But it still wasn't entirely smooth to the touch. The brown paper definitely gave it a nice feel, quickly too. I don't know how long I waited before rubbing, but it was most likely a week; I usually only do woodworking on the weekends.

Was it the ultimate furniture finish? I suppose not. I haven't really discovered how to do that yet. But it was a fairly large set of bookcases; the finish needed to be durable and not too finicky or time-consuming. My current project, while smaller, seemed well-suited to the same sort of finish. So far I'm pretty pleased with it.

Typically I'll build up coats during the day, waiting until the surface is dry enough to not grab the brush/cloth I'm using to apply the next coat (1-2 hours in my warm/dry finishing area). After this dries overnight, I'll scuff it up with steel wool or flatten up with 320 paper and mineral spirits if it is a flat surface before applying more.

I let things dry over the week (assuming I'm only finishing on the weekend) to let things dry thoroughly before the final surface prep with

The poly tends to shrink even after appearing dry until a few days later (could be longer if the total build up is thicker). The shrinking exposes the tiny scratches left from the sanding.

-BR