Re-Post Need Advice "Sanding Between Coats?"

Built some railings for my deck. Railings are mahogany hand rail/nailing strips and bottom rail. Balusters are KD Doug Fir. Must say the whole thing came out pretty sweet. I treated the mahogany elements with two coats of Cabot's ATO then a coat of the GF Outdoor Oil. Looks excellent. I am wondering if I should lightly sand the railings with some 220 grit paper before putting on another coat of the

oil. The can says nothing about sanding between coats. Checked the GF website, nothing there either. The dried coating looks a lot like poly or shellac. With all the labor I put into these I really don't mind another step or two. Advice would be appreciated. Thanks. John

Reply to
jk
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Built some railings for my deck. Railings are mahogany hand rail/nailing strips and bottom rail. Balusters are KD Doug Fir. Must say the whole thing came out pretty sweet. I treated the mahogany elements with two coats of Cabot's ATO then a coat of the GF Outdoor Oil. Looks excellent. I am wondering if I should lightly sand the railings with some 220 grit paper before putting on another coat of the

oil. The can says nothing about sanding between coats. Checked the GF website, nothing there either. The dried coating looks a lot like poly or shellac. With all the labor I put into these I really don't mind another step or two. Advice would be appreciated. Thanks. John

Reply to
jk

Built some railings for my deck. Railings are mahogany hand rail/nailing strips and bottom rail. Balusters are KD Doug Fir. Must say the whole thing came out pretty sweet. I treated the mahogany elements with two coats of Cabot's ATO then a coat of the GF Outdoor Oil. Looks excellent. I am wondering if I should lightly sand the railings with some 220 grit paper before putting on another coat of the

oil. The can says nothing about sanding between coats. Checked the GF website, nothing there either. The dried coating looks a lot like poly or shellac. With all the labor I put into these I really don't mind another step or two. Advice would be appreciated. Thanks. John

Reply to
jk

Sanding between coats smoothes any imperfections and helps the next coat of finish to stick better. This is not a factor with oil finishes. If the wood feels a little rough from raised grain and you want to sand it, go ahead, but it is not required at all.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Thanks Ed. Wondering if you or for that matter anyone else has any experience with the GF Outdoor Oil. The guy at Rocklers talked it up. Like I said in previous message the coats I put on the mahogany have dried like Poly, shiny and bright. Is this to be expected? Thanks. John

Reply to
jk

I am wondering if you have an actual oil finish, or if you have an oil

oil, walnut oil, etc. They can be buffed to a sheen, but cannot be made into "shiny and bright" just by applying and leaving them alone.

Ed is right; if you have an oil finish, no sanding required. Slap more on and go watch TV.

But if you are getting "shiny and bright" you almost certainly have an oil based finish that has a fair amount of resin to create the reflectivity. In the case of oil >based< finish, you should sand to break the top layer of the hardened resin if you have allowed it to dry. This will also provide better adhesion for you next coat, keeping in mind that oil >based< (as opposed to true oil) finishes are film finishes, meaning they do not melt into the previous coat, but simply bond to it.

If I saw shiny and bright, I would know that it had a good amount of cured resins, their job being a barrier of protection for the wood. I would sand until slightly dull, then reapply.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

thanks Robert, et al. By your definition, which I agree with, I have an "oil-based" finish. Lot of resins in it. As compared with the true oil finishes you mentioned, tung, linseed, teak, and all the witches brews in between. In fact I have been using Orange oil on the teak furniture in the house, load it on, wait fifteen minutes or more, wipe of excess, buff with clean dry cloth. Finish is a matte. No reflectivity. Just a nice warm glow. Well, the General Finishes Outdoor Oil is hereby declared an "oil based" finish. That's cool. It looks excellent. The mahogany is just beautiful with it. I ended up putting on three coats over the two thin coats of Cabot's ATO. Sanding in between all coats with 220, tack cloth, quick wipe with a barley wet turp cloth. I guess we're now into enviromental testing. Railings are mounted (finally) on deck. Soon winter will be upon us.....Frankly, the railings looked so good I kept procrastinating putting them up and outside. We will have a report on how the finish held up in the spring! Now, on to the next project. I ended up with one 12 foot section of the mahogany railing left and some 2x4 mahogany stock. The railing section has some breath taking grain, almost "birds eye" maple like, shimmers, changes depending on angle of view. Thinking of making a modified mission style sofa with the railing around the perimiter of the back of the sofa so it can be seen. Gonna sit with some paper and pencil and see what God gives me for inspiration. Keep me out of trouble this winter.....Thanks. John

Reply to
jk

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