Finishing Disaster wipe-on poly

[Frank T Bye Sr]

I hope you can help me with a finishing disaster I’ve gotten into. The project is a white oak Murphy bed where I used a sealer coat of equal parts of shellac (3 lb), BLO & mineral spirits. After the sealer coat was dry, Minwax Golden Oak Stain Finish was applied and given time to dry. The surface at this point was very dull with the stain color. “The problem occurred when Minwax wipe on satin polyurethane was applied.” This resulted in cloudy white spots forming on the surface during the drying process time.

What would cause the poly to react the way it did, and what can be done to correct this problem

Thanks
Frank

[Jeff Jewitt]

I used a sealer coat of equal parts of shellac (3 lb), BLO & mineral spirits.

I hope you really didn't do this. These products aren't compatible if mixed together. Are you sure you mixed all three of these together?

[Craig Hemsath]

Agree with Jeff. That isn't a good combo. With the cloudy spots though, could be the flatteners used in the satin poly didn't mix evenly.

[Rob Young]

I hope you can help me with a finishing disaster I’ve gotten into. The project is a white oak Murphy bed where I used a sealer coat of equal parts of shellac (3 lb), BLO & mineral spirits. After the sealer coat was dry, Minwax Golden Oak Stain Finish was applied and given time to dry. The surface at this point was very dull with the stain color. “The problem occurred when Minwax wipe on satin polyurethane was applied.” This resulted in cloudy white spots forming on the surface during the drying process time.

What would cause the poly to react the way it did, and what can be done to correct this problem

Thanks
Frank

Why did you mix shellac, BLO and mineral spirits?

Did you mean to say varnish, BLO and mineral spirits?

Or were you using non-dewaxed shellac (double negative there, sorry) and hoping that somehow the mineral spirits were going to dewax the shellac?

And how long did you wait for it to dry? BLO can be pretty slow to dry depending on the wood, concentration, brand, environmental conditions, phase of the moon, etc...

[Howard Acheson]

If you planned to stain, why would you apply a sealer coat of anything? What species of wood are you working with?

In addition to all the comments and questions about the shellac, BLO and mineral spirits, did you follow the directions on the can of stain regarding applying, let it set for 15 minutes and then wiping off the excess?

[Frank T Bye Sr]

Yes I screwed up. That’s what I get for trusting my memory. The mix should been VARNISH, BOL and mineral spirits this is used as a sealer coat so that the stain will apply evenly.
Any ideas on how to recover from this.

[Scott Holmes]

Frank,

Still not quite right... Varnish, BLO and MS (~equal parts of each) will make an oil/varnish blend a.k.a. Danish oil. This is a finish not a sealer or pre-stain conditioner. Granted it does seal the wood; but that's not a good "seal coat".

Pre-stain conditioners or a light seal coat help some woods take stain more evenly, albeit lighter in color. White oak takes stain very well; it needs no pre-conditioning.

At this point I would suggest a chemical striper it to get the poly and the other gunk off the wood and start over.

[Prashun Patel]

Or you can sand it off. You'll gum up a lot of paper, but it might be less intimidating than a stripper.

[Scott Holmes]

Sanding is not a good way to remove old finish; ESPECIALLY if you want to stain the wood when you are finished removing the old finish...

Shawn, I would not want to even guess what the shellac, MS, BLO and then poly would leave on the surface of the table... yuck!