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I recently decided to embed my niece's picture into a serving tray style tabletop. I printed the picture, had it laminated, bought polyurethane, followed the directions to a "T". It's now one month and a day later and the surface is still tacky (I can leave a fingerprint in it). Otherwise, it looks GREAT!
How do I remove the "tacky to the touch" from the surface?
Depending on the type of Polyurethane, they could cure first by solvent flash off, then by oxygen or water in the air, or by some other curing agents in the mix. What product did you use?
Sometimes very thick layers of Poly will not cure because the layers below the surface cannot interact with the air or the surface blocks the solvent evaporation of the lower layers. This interaction causes the whole thing to stay "tacky" for a long time.
It's probably because you applied polyurethane to a laminate surface. There is nothing for it to adhere to.
Likely it's not the polyurethane, so you should probably use a Shellac as the properties in the shellac will be less resistant to a non-porous surface. But then again, shellac or polyurethane over a already glossy surface is bad news.
