Great group with alot of good info....thx guys! Ok...heres where I am at. After sanding coffee table top made of white oak down to bare wood I stained the peice with Red Mahogany oil base Minwax Stain. I seamed to look a little blotchy so I applyed Minwax Wood Conditioner after resanding. After 3 coats of stain to get the shade I wanted, I applyed
3 to 4 coats of Minwax Oil base semi-gloss poly cut 50/50 with paint thinner made with minerial spirits using the wipe-on metheod. I did this w/o sanding between coats. I then lightly sanded with 220 grit. Now after applying another coat of cut poly the stuff wont level. It looks as if there is a coat of Schotchguard is under the poly and it beading up. Is it possible that I sanded too soon and clogged the wood pores? I want to add about 6 more coats to get a durable hard finish. Many Thanks!!!....Don
Sand it down as much as you can without getting into the stain. I'd say to skip the thinning and use a good foam brush. Put on 3 coats and sand lightly between each coat. There is a difference in the foam brushes. They aren't labled very well so here's what to look for. They have the wood handles and do not have the black plastic piece at the base of the foam. They hold up and the poly flows out better.
First point: You will need to sand off this roughness. You will not be able to "level" it with more coats.
Point two: Likelyhood is you will sand through to the wood and sand off the stain in some spots before you ever get this smooth enough.
Point three: If you sand through to the bare wood anywhere, you have to sand it all to bare wood. Believe me, I've tried not too more than once.
Point four: I've had similar situations, using laquer, which is much easier to repair, and I was very glad I had a wide belt sander to take it back down to bare wood after many hours trying to "repair" it.
Without seeing the problem, scotchguard sounds kinda strange. It could be sanding dust? It could be some effect from the material you are using for wiping. Bubbles? Just not sure. Regarding the wood pores, once you do a second coat, you have a film finish, you are not penetrating any more.
220 sounds a little rough for my taste, once I am finishing. Especially a wiped finish. If I had done 220, I'd follow with 320 and
400 before proceding.
Finally, White Oak has a flatter grain surface than Red Oak but you will never "flatten" the surface with a wiped finish. If you are really looking for a flat finish, you need to at least spray or better yet glaze the surface first with a filler. You can use a black filler to pop the contrast by blacking in the grain lines or a neutral glaze for a more natural look. Glazing aint easy. However, if your wiped on layers are very thin, you could still glaze it now. Then wipe on more finish. I would really wash out the grain with mineral spirits and a brush, brushing in line with the grain before glazing to clean out the sanding dust. Also, wiping on the finish after glazing can wash out the glaze if you aren't careful. Let the glaze dry well first.
Glazing is usually done after a wash coat or sanding sealer, some folks do it on raw wood but you run the risk of colorizing the wood all over, rather than in the grain lines.
Finally, White Oak looks great with black glaze to really pop the contrast, especially (using that word alot here) on QS where the flakes and rays glow more with the black outlines.
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