WB Poly over Oil/Varnish?

[Jack Horner]

Hello, I've got a question on finish compatibility. I'm finishing several new vertical grain douglas fir raised panel interior doors. I applied several coats of dewaxed shellac, one blonde two garnet to seal and color the vg fir. I'm very happy with the resulting color. My plan from this point was to top off with a couple coats of an oil/varnish to provide some additional protection.

I brushed on one coat of Arm R Seal on one of the doors. I'm working in a basement shop, and found the fumes from the Arm R Seal to be pretty strong. Because of this I am reconsidering my decision to use oil/varnish. I am thinking of switching to a couple coats of General Finishes High Performance Water Based Polyurethane instead. My question is can I apply the water based poly over the Arm R Seal already on the one door? Any thoughts on compatibility, dry time before going over the oil/varnish? I contacted General Finishes with the questions but haven't heard back yet. Thanks!

[Prashun Patel]

I am unsure if that'll work.

You have a couple options:

- add a barrier coat of shellac between the varnish (armrseal behaves more like a varnish than an oil+varnish) and the wb topcoat.
- finish somewhere else. ArmRSeal is thin enough to wipe on which makes it less fussy about the sterility of the finishing environment. Beware that if you have not applied armrseal to other pieces or doors near by, they may not perfectly match in color.