Wipe-on Waterlox Satin Question

[Henry Ambrose]

Is spraying waterlox an option? or not? I have a maple countertop that I just stained. I was planning on wiping on 2 coats of sealer/finish and then spraying 1 or 2 coats of Waterlox satin. Wrong approach??

Waterlox sprays well. When spraying the satin be sure you keep it mixed while in the gun. I'd save the satin for the very last coat. You might also find that once you have a good smooth build of the original, you might like that just like it is.

[Kent A Bathurst]

I've reached out to Obi-Wan Holmes. My guess is that he is out of town, or very busy.

Reading everything here, the impression I get for the direct answers on the satin is that I got what I'll get. My options are limited to (a) lite scuff sanding, and taking another run at it with less solvent, maybe a different solvent (b) maybe brush not wipe (c) if wipe, tip off (d) backing up a couple steps via sanding, and taking another swing. Not going to do that at present.

FWIW - I left out a small bit...I put down two coats of the satin by wipe and tip-off with the wipe-on towel. That left with-the-grain striations that were worse than the swirls. So after a few days, lite sanding and the wipe-on method that left the swirls.

Does anyone out there think I have a way via after-cure work on the satin to address the swirls? Can one buff out satin? Or, do the formulation and the fillers make that a fools errand?

It simply just may be time to throw away the shovel, and stop digging.

For those of you with the advice on non-satin Wlox - thanks for your insight. That's not an issue for me, though. I'm groovy with Behlen's. Brush on some coats, and then last one or two wipe on 50/50 with Behlen's reducer. Works perfectly. I had just assumed that the satin would work the same way. And - now I know. But that's OK - all the really valuable lessons have come by mistaking my way up the learning curve, so this is nothing more than another notch in the belt. Or - varnish brush, as it were.

[Henry Ambrose]

Prashun gives good advice in post #2 above.

I'd not use thinner when wiping on the original and if you want to use satin finish save it for the last coat, but it will almost certainly be a bit streaky. The flatteners guarantee it when the application and subsequent film thickness varies a lot. Wiping on is a great way to do a fill the wood surface finish and not so good for a build up finish, several coats over the wood surface.

Brushing it is going to be hard to make a perfect finish like a table top that you see up close and in all angles of light. It'd be fine on household trim or floors but not totally perfect and flawless for up close inspection.

Spraying properly can make a near perfect job with any version of Waterlox.

The other way for near perfection is to rub out the brushed job and for that just use the original version giving plenty of time to dry between coats and at the end before rub out.

[Sam Murdoch]

Jeff

As for the issue at hand. I have learned that your best bet is just to wait and sand down the finish to get a nice smooth surface and reapply. Applying more coats over bad layers doesn't do you any good. Best to correct the issue ASAP. In this case I would take it all the way back and apply the waterlox original sander/sealer and buff to preferred surface versus using satin. You have to buff it out anyways so you don't have any extra work in accomplishing the end result.

This is my experience as well. So that's 2 votes for sanding to a good surface. And again, Penetrol is a good reducer for Waterlox.

[Alan Lightstone]

Alan-
I apologize; I made a mistake. I meant Scott HOLMES. Scott Morrison is great too for other reasons, but Mr. Holmes has a lot of Waterlox (and other finishing) experience, and is generous with his advice.

I wondered. Thought we had another guru lurking.

Yeah whatever Scott Holmes says - take to the bank. Still liked your chair which I hadn't seen.

As to the original issue, I agree that it sounds like it's time to follow the first rule of hole digging.

As to whether or not to use Behlen's or Waterlox F/S to redo the finish - I think if the plan is to put on a number of coats, let it cure, then rub out to satin, I would use whichever you feel more comfortable using (which sounds like Behlen's in your case). It sounds like collectively we're just not big fans of the satin Waterlox.