I've built a bookcase for my wife; she wanted it painted, not stained, with a particular color of white that she had used on a previous bookcase. Semi-gloss latex; went on fine, no problems. I've read that for furniture that will have items placed on it, latex can be a bit soft; and so I decided to put a clear coat on top of the paint.
I've used polyurethane, both oil and water based, in the past with no problems. But this time, using the Polycrylic product made by Mini-Wax, every time I attempt to apply a coat, immediately - within the first few brush strokes - I can see very short, very small hairs showing up in where I've laid the poly down. It's maybe 2 or 3 small hairs for each square foot; they are all extremely short, no long hairs. I've tried brand new foam brushes and two new synthetic brushes; even went and bought a second can of Polycrylic just in case the first can had somehow been contaminated. I'm not wearing fuzzy clothing, just a white t-shirt and old chino pants. The hairs are definitely not from me and they aren't brush hairs. The painted surface has been wiped clean with a brand-new tacky cloth each time, and that cloth has no hair on it. I use a brand new clean container to put the polycrylic in each time.
I have not done any sawing or woodworking in the shop area for a couple of weeks now. The two coats of latex paint did not have this hair problem and neither did the primer coat. I sand in between coats as needed, and always take care to vacuum all the dust off, then use a tacky cloth; as a result there isn't any problem with dust; it's just these very fine, short hairs. Just for kicks I brushed the polycrylic onto several sheets of paper; I saw maybe 2 small hairs, but not nearly as many as I occur when brushing onto the paint. I don't know if that demonstrates anything.
At this point I'm ready to give up on the idea of a clear coat & just go with a last coat of the latex paint (after I sand down the second of the aborted polycrylic coats again); my wife says she won't mind. But it bothers me that I can't figure out a source. The only thing I can figure is, the workshop has baseboard electric heat, which cycles on and off; so I suppose it is possible the heat drives small air currents, and perhaps small hairs float more easily than dust?
I can see three options here:
1) Go with just the latex paint. It does not seem a particularly soft brand to me once it dries (even before fully curing).
2) Move the bookcase to an open bay in our garage, a completely different space and try again with poly from the uncontaminated can. This space wouldn't be dust free either, as old furniture & house hold items are stored in the other bay; but there is no baseboard heat to drive air currents; the space is cooler but not too cool for a thin finish to dry.
3) Try a different poly, perhaps an ordinary water-based polyurethane from Mini-Wax, to see if somehow it doesn't have this problem. My guess is this would be a waste of money, as I don't imagine the problem is really with the Polycrylic.
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Originally Posted by John TenEyck
