Commercial bar top finishes

[keith micinski]

SO I did a little research on here and there were some older threads about bar top finishes and someone named Per had a lot of good advice. I was wondering if there had been any new products for bar tops that have come out in the last 5 or so years since most of the threads appear to be before that. Marine epoxy seems to be what most people said to use since I am on a time crunch and at best will have 12 hours between people using it.

[keith micinski]

By the way the bar top is made out of red oak and whatever finish the last guy used is peeling off in a big sheet.

[peter gagliardi]

You might want to look into a catalyzed polyurethane such as ICA . It isn't cheap, but it is extremely durable! Best finish for what you want, short of pour on epoxy in my opinion. They say spray or brush, but I only spray it. It was used in a very busy restaurant on some table tops about 12 years ago now, and the tops look like they were done last week!
Good thing is, that it is fast dry,you can be all done with several coats in a twelve hour window. Also, it is a heavy build product- you can coat 2 times or 20 to reach your desired effect.
Milesi is another company making a similar product as well. In any event, it seems the Italian companies have the best finishes on the market right now, as they have been, and continue to do heavy R&D while most others just put out the same old,same old.
The ICA is my very top line finish for durability and ease of application.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I am on a time crunch and at best will have 12 hours between people using it.
and whatever finish the last guy used is peeling off in a big sheet.

1 +2 = a recipe for a complete disaster.

You'll need to strip off whatever it is that's on there, then I recommend to some compatibility testing prior to using whatever it is you plan on using for your final product.

Epoxies and moisture cured urethanes are the two most resistant finishes you can apply.
Both are extremely picky about what they will go over w/out problems.

Per Swenson is the person you refer to. Per and his father had (I'm not sure if Per is still in the business full time now or not - I see him post on Facebook from time to time) a very high end business making custom bars.
His whole finishing regime is a pretty lengthy one. It involves putting on a coat of Seal Coat, sanding it back with a Festool sander - and Per is very specific as to why the sander has to be a Festool (or better) sander, then multiple coats of finish - allowing 12 hours of dry time between coats.


Honestly?
I'd recommend just removing as much of the old as you can peel off, feather the edges if needed and slap a coat of Zinsser Seal Coat on for the time being.

Later, when you have the time to do it right, you can use an alcohol wash to remove most of the Seal Coat & what you can't wash off w/that, probably won't hurt anything.
12 hours just simply isn't enough time to do anything but make a bad situation worse.

[keith micinski]

Unfortunately there is never going to be a period of longer then twelve hours that the bar isn't open so that's my time frame.

[johnny means]

Put in a temporary laminate top. Send the the top to a real shop to get a proper conversion varnish finish.

[Rich Engelhardt]

From the sounds of it, my guess would be that the last person that refinished the top was under the same time constraint.
The way the old finish is coming off in sheets leads me to think that.

From my perspective as a past painting contractor & as a current associate of a general contractor (long story), I'd personally turn this job down.
My gut feeling is that it's going to be trouble & there's not a lot you can do to remedy that.

I'd find a local paint store - probably Sherwin Williams - and have one of their commercial sales people go out and take a look at it & go over things with the owner.