We spent over a month making our kitchen counter tops out of 100+ year old cypress lumber left over from my great grand parents house. We planed the lumber from 1 1/8″ thick to 3/4″. passed the edges through a joiner and cut each piece to size. We left the lumber flat on the floor in the A/C kitchen for about 3 weeks.

The subsurface is 3/4″ plywood NOT pressure treated. After each piece was dry fitted we apllied glue and finish nailed the pieces to the plywood. We plan to use clear polyacrylic over the wood as is, nail holes, knots, etc left as is. Went on vacation for 10 days. Sanded the surface initially with a random orbiting sander 80 grit. Once level passed over it again with 120 grit. Beautiful at this point.

Tested a scrap piece with ACE great finishes  sanding sealer indoors and a scrap piece outdoors. (we live on gulf coast of Louisiana so high temp, high humidity) Both pieces dried fine although slightly longer than advertised 4 hours but I would expect that here.

Here’s the heart breaker. Put a coat of the sanding sealer on the entire surface of our countertops last Sunday. It is now Tuesday late afternoon and the surface is still damp and tacky. sanding only gummed up. Been running fans on the surface for two days.

I am at a loss. Even brought my 80 year old lifelong wood worker and Uncle and he cant understand it either.

HELP?