Hi all,
I’ve been working on shelving out several closets in my current home basically as practice before attempting anything serious and I always have problems when it comes to finishing.
On my first project I used a minwax stain and then several clear satin gloss polyurethane topcoats. The stain went well, but I had problems with the satin gloss appearing consistent. I did some research and changed my approach on the second closet. This time around I used the same stain, but I went with 3 coats of clear gloss poly (which looked great) and then I finished with one coat of the satin gloss. The satin gloss again looks poor. My process was to apply a coat of thinned gloss poly (3 parts poly – 1 part mineral spirits) then lightly sand with 320, then vacuum the dust off and tack cloth. This was repeated three time and then the fourth time I used the satin poly (thinned 3-1). I also made sure to stir the satin poly regularly (every two minutes or so) because I thought my problem last time was the solids settling.
My main issue with the satin coat is that it does not look consistent at all. It is obvious which direction the coat was applied in because it is like you can see the brush strokes after it dries. I never had this problem with the gloss poly. I have attached a photo which kind of shows my problem. It’s hard to take a photo of, but hopefully it will help.
ANY suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!
Edited 11/8/2009 2:32 pm ET by DanielB
Replies
It looks a bit like overbrushing, some brands of poly have lots of dryers and start to drag very quickly depending on humidity and heat.Adding mineral spirits does not slow the tack time .You could try adding a retarder such as those made by Flood .
It looks like the flatteners in the non-gloss material have not been thoroughly stirred into suspension. Stir 100 strokes in one direction and then 100 strokes in the other being sure to keep the stirrer in contact with the bottom of the can. You must also re-stir every few minutes. This is particularly important if you are thinning the product. The thinner the finish, the more rapidly the flatteners will fall out of suspension.
The final gloss is determined by the gloss of the final coat. If you apply a non-gloss coat last, the finish will be non-gloss. If you apply a gloss final coat over a non-gloss, the finish will be gloss.
Finally, I suggest you buy a new can of the non-gloss. If it was not fully stirred before, the amount of flatteners in a partially used can will be inconsistant and can lead to problems.
Thanks to both of you. I think it may be a combination of the two problems. I thought I stirred enough, but I probably only stirred 50-75 times originally. I'll give both suggestions a shot and let you know how it turns out.Thanks again!
What Howard said. When I use satin (almost always) I swirl the jar EVERY time I load my rag.
And if I remember the number of coats you used of wipe on, not nearly enough with 3. The piece hardly looks presentable at that time in my experience. I apply at least 8 to tops that will receive "wear" and 6 to sides that don't--or until it "looks good".Gretchen
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