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When you apply multiple coats of urethane, any dust or small flaws will be amplified with each new coat. If you want the smoothest finish possible, then wait until it is dry, very lightly sand with very fine paper (220 or finer) to remove any dust bumps, wipe it clean with a slightly damp cloth or tact rag, let it dry or buff it dry with a dry cloth, then ...
8
It's all about adhesion. When you recoat after 2 hours you get a chemical bond between layers. If you let it go longer than that, you need to wait 24 hours so it's hard enough to sand and get a mechanical bond.
I sand before the final layer. That gets it smooth without danger of sanding through.
8
I have a similar workbench but instead of finishing it, I screwed down (no glue) two layers of hardboard. It's cheap so I don't mind dinging it up and since it's only screwed down, it'll be easy to replace when it gets too dinged up.
7
It can be a problem when drying conditions are too fast for the finish to release the bubbles. Here are some strategies to try.
Good quality brush, china bristle (boar) for oil
Slight thinning (up to 10%).
Drying extenders (retarders): Floetrol for latex, Penetrol for oil based paints and stains
Don't shake your finish, stir only (to prevent mixing air ...
7
After looking at your links, it appears you have purchased an unfinished wood top. It will need some sort of finish. You have a couple of choices, oil or a hard finish.
Oil finishes on raw wood will help keep the surface from staining and make them repel water. Oils can often deepen the color or actually alter the color as it ages. Oils need to be reapplied ...
6
The epoxy glaze you cited is what us old timers used to call casting resin. We use it on bar tops to give good gloss and a hard finish. Sounds like a good choice to me, but several coats of good oil based urethane will also give you good results. Good Luck
5
I generally spray-finish when I want to have a true satin sheen. I find that it's much easier to manage the application when I'm trying for a Satin finish, even if I'm just using a rattlecan, especially for the final coat. I might just suck with a brush, but I tend to find that I leave either brush strokes, tiny bubbles, or areas of uneven thickness that ...
4
At 100 years old, there's a good chance that the finish on that piano is Shellac. The stuff can get sticky over time. As the linked article points out, the stuff is soluble in alcohol. I've use a cloth soaked in denatured ethanol to swab away sticky spots on a few of my hundred year old oak doors. Doing so gently, not scrubbing so hard so as to remove all ...
4
Raw linseed oil does not harden. That is the fundamental difference between raw and boiled (often chemically treated rather than actually boiled, these days) linseed oil. It will be gummy for a very, very long time.
You would probably want to remove as much of the surface oil as possible and re-oil with a hardening oil - boiled linseed, walnut, etc.
3
As @bib says in his comment, the purpose of the finish is really dependent on what the wood is being used for. Most wood finishes will provided at least a little protection from drying and abrasion, but other than that it's really application specific. (By the way you use the word "varnish", which is a specific category of wood finishes, but there are many ...
3
Generally speaking, varnish makes the wood look pretty and shiny and protects it from water although the protection is not perfect.
A much better explanation can be found in the book Understanding Wood Finishing by Bob Flexner.
It has been through several editions so your local public library should have a copy. He debunks a lot of myths and is pretty ...
3
It seems like a new finish of any kind is going to be somewhat at odds with a weathered, distressed look. That said...
A water based urethane finish should change the color less than an oil based one, but there will still be a change. A final coat of satin sheen finish over the initial coats might be simpler than the steel wool and less likely to change ...
3
I've used spar urethane for this purpose.
Be aware, though, that it will outgas for a long time if you don't expose it to the sun.
3
All exterior wood finishes that are "suitable for sun exposure" still slowly degrade in the sun (it's worse than water, actually) and need to be renewed - Just ask the folks with wooden boats. So whether or not the current finish is "weather resistant" (since "weather proof" is not really accurate) it will need to be renewed.
The simplest approach is to re-...
3
Yes, by all means. You might want to test a spot (not for "will it work" - it will - but for any possible color issues.)
As for what you have read, consider it an opinion, nothing more - if you like what you have, boiled linseed is just fine. Apart from some potential risk to tree nut allergy sufferers, walnut oil also works nicely and is a drying oil. ...
3
After staining give a coat of clear finish, sanding it with a fine sandpaper (400G) to remove any raised grain or any dust that may have settled onto the drying finish. This will give you a good base to add your paint and the sanded surface will give it good adhesion. Steel wool has its purpose, but I would not use it here. That's only my opinion. My ...
3
Use a sanding block (ie, do not hand sand with your fingers) which will prevent the sandpaper from pressing into the grooves.
1 mm is huge, for anything reasonably described as fine sandpaper and not applied with excess enthusiasm.
But, as is always the case, testing your complete proposed finishing process on a suitable piece of (in this case) laser-...
2
There is no substitute for sanding between each coat if you want the best finish. I get the best result building or refinishing furniture when I thin oil based urethane 3 parts urethane- 1 part mineral spirits for the first coat. Sand with 220 grit after first coat and wipe down with a tack cloth. Remove tack cloth residue with denatured alcohol on a cloth. ...
2
If you're using a varnish and a paintbrush it's fairly common. You can apply varnish or oil with a rag and that will cut down on the bubbles but they aren't a big issue most of the time.
2
I, too, would be leery of making too nice a table to work on. I recommend a layer of Masonite for a top. It is cheap, takes paint well, and easy to replace when you spill glue or paint on it. Truth be told this is my plan, but I haven't quite gotten there. My workbench is covered by cardboard. Too busy working to make a workspace.
2
Glossy or not, a smooth finish feels wonderful and protects better. Especially on something as abused as a table top. If those dust nibs you didn't sand out get knocked or scratched out at some point, it may result in a hole all the way down to the bare wood. Once moisture enters such a hole, well... you obviously have problems.
Assuming that convinces ...
2
A trip to the hire shop is in order. One floor sander and an edge sander. A selection of medium and fine grit belts-the hire shop will probably credit you for unused materials. Get all the windows open and wipe the floor over with isopropyl alcohol to remove as much old wax as possible, this will save a lot of clogging of the sanding medium. First sand ...
2
I found that thinning was the key - had to experiment a little but once I got used to it the results where very good.I would go so far as to say that almost nothing can go from the can to the project some kind of thinning or cutting back on product is essential .
2
We just put two coats of a Varathane Floor Finish over a painted floor. It's Satin, and suitable for wood as well. It might be worth considering, because 1) we had zero color change (even over metallic and multi-tonal base) and 2) the satin actually looks flat on our floor.
2
I hate to be critical of other contractors, but from the clues you have given in your question, I think I know what happened.
First, pine is a much softer wood than oak and needs to be sanded very smooth before the first coat of urethane. The first coat raises the grain of the pine and almost always is somewhat rough regardless of how good the initial prep ...
2
UV light is actually probably a bigger concern than water. All but the most delicate finishes will provide decent water resistance, but UV light will break down anything not specifically designed for it.
An exterior door should be finished with something outdoor-rated, like spar varnish. I'm not sure there's any way for you to tell by looking at it, but ...
2
If you want to "get rid of the shiny look" why would apply lacquer at all? Shiny is what lacquer does. If the only issue you have with the lacquer is that it's shiny, all you may need to do is rub the doors down with steel wool or Scotchbrite® (generically, non-woven abrasive pads) to take the shine off. But don't apply more lacquer if you don't want it to ...
2
The wood will change color eventually no matter what you do. However, you can do two things to slow down that process.
Use a water-based polyurethane finish. All other finishes are either slightly yellow going on, or themselves yellow with age.
Keep the sun off the wood. Sunlight hastens the darkening process.
A dark stain will mask the effect. The ...
2
The trick here is to actually have the lid start out as part of the box, so that the grain of the wood all runs right across the separation between box and lid.
One way this can be accomplished is to build a solid "block", and then turn that into a box. You first cut off a "lid" off of the solid block, and then by one means or another, hollow out the ...
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