Using 0000 steel on poly

Water based poly? Stay away from the steel wool as the fine particles left behind will begin to rust. I've never found an advantage to waxing with the abrasive. Sand as fine a you need and wax with a clean dry lint-free cloth.... IMHO

Pat..

I just sand to 320 grit with one of the 3M sandblaster foam pads, then wax with a cloth. The foam prevents from highlighting irregularities.

I have, but not car wax. I use paste wax (on silicone). It is sort-of wetsanding; the wax lubricates the wool. After the final coat of poly, I find that its effective at removing any dust nibs that got into the final coat and reduces the level of sheen from gloss to a satin. IMHO it leaves the finish feeling much more touchable. Of you want to keep a glossy look, itprobably not the right technique for you.

Practice on scrap.

-Steve

It is SW oil based poly. Hadn't considered the rust thing. Interesting.

dwhite

Then like other people I use the finest steel wool I have -- then a coat of Johnsons paste wax and a bit of buffing . Works for me. ymmv

I detest the water based -- too much fuss. Aside from the issue with the steel wool, it leaves way too many bubbles -- even when we take great care. The speed of application can be way too slow as usually we use poly on projects we want to finish in a hurry. I would rather use our organic filter breathing mask and use wipe-on oil based poly. It dries fast and takes very little extra work with the steel wool and the wax.

The advantage is like killing 2 birds with 1 stone. Applying with steel wool eliminates the need to apply with a cloth after steel wooling. Kinda like applying car wax to a car before drying it off after washing.

OK, thanks for the various replies.

dwhite