I’m working on an office counter made of oak plywood, stained with Minwax Gel Stain, finished with Varathane oil based gloss. I’ve done three coats, sanded with 220 between, and each time there are areas where the the finish isn’t glossy. Not the same spots every time.
I’ve asked at local paint stores and no one knows why. I don’t want to sand back to bare wood because I’m sure to go through the plywood veneer. Any ideas? Is there another product I can topcoat with? Wax?
Replies
Sounds like the varathane needed to be thinned.
mike
Its not at all clear to me what is happening. I suppose it is at least possible that you are oversanding between coats. The 220 grit paper is a bit more coarse that is generally best. I like 320 grit for between coats--by hand only, no ROS.
If you want to shift top coats you can do that. You may have something screwy with the particular batch of Varathane--too old, or mixed with some satin by mistake, or something odd. I would use a traditional resin varnish. Something like Behlen Rockhard, Pratt & Lambert 38 or McCloskey Heirloom. To be safe make sure the Varathane is given time to be well dried. It should sand to a powder, not roll up on the paper. Also make sure your brush is very clean and that you are using the correct, uncontaminated thinner. This long list of "good things to do" is largely a reflection of my lack of really understanding what is going wrong.
Did you use a grain filler on your oak before you stained? Oak has a very open grain that can definitely look odd when it's finished with a glossy finish. In the right light, I often see areas that look very "flat" and shiney between the areas of wood grain. The grain areas often look almost dull. I can usually fix this by thinning my oil based poly to improve it's "flow" so it lays out better as it sets up.
Rotary cut plywood veneer seems to accent the problem since the grain is much more pronounced.
Thanks for your response. No I didn't use grain filler, although I have some on my shelf. I didn't know what it was for (or how it got there), so I passed - too late now. I've finished oak ply before and never had this trouble, so I didn't do the research that I'm doing now. At this point I've sanded it flat again and I try using thinned poly as you suggest. If the worst comes to the worst, I'll use stripper and start from scratch. Thanks again.
Predicting how a piece of wood will finish can be a crap shoot. That's why I always suggest that people do samples before they actually touch their ready-to-finish project. I see it as "insurance" - lol
I sanded the desktop down almost to the stain - actually went through to bare wood in a couple of places, my signal to stop. Then I touched up the stain and started again, this time with fresh, thinned Minwax poly. Three coat later it's finally looking pretty good. I should have used filler as you suggested, but the result is acceptable and I'm very relieved to have this finished. Thanks again for your help.
Anytime, Rsohr. That's why these forums exist.
This must be my week for stain/finish questions. The funny thing is that I've recently connected with a real stain/finish guy and am bidding future jobs with him doing the stain/finish work. Like I told him, I can do ok, but he leaves me in the dust - lol.
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