I didn’t shake the can, and the brush didn’t leave any bubbles behind. Is there a name for applying estimation at a lower level of aggregation, and is it necessarily problematic? Why were there only 531 electoral votes in the US Presidential Election 2016? How to Transport a Live Christmas Tree Home. Run the brush very lightly along the surface to flatten the bubbles into the finish. You can in theory do this entirely with abrasive paper or film, but you have to go to extremely high grits and these can be quite costly. Basically you can't. I tried touching it up by rolling on some poly but the finish is matte and somewhat cloudy from…, Q: I had my floors refinished, but they left lumps, debris in polyurethane and I cannot get them to fix it. Over working the area can also cause what appears to be air bubbles but are really minute balls of hardened finish. A: Run your finish through a strainer to make sure it is clean and free of debris. Get the latest This Old House news, trusted tips, tricks, and DIY Smarts projects from our experts–straight to your inbox. Thinning the polyurethane makes it flow on more smoothly and reduces brush marks. This makes the procedure for repairing scratches, bumps, cracks and other surface defects on noncuring finishes less dependent on sandpaper than cured finishes. - They're definitely bumps, not craters. I keep a can of spray poly handy in case of bubbles. So I sanded them out and brushed on a new coat. site design / logo © 2020 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. From memory, the directions I always see on cans of poly is to sand between coats, not to sand after a final coat. However, if you use your hammer test on it, it will also break like glass. Start gently, sand all the imperfections (wet 1000g) and then clean the surface well. Test the finish if you don't know what type it is. Sand a rotary tool excess polyurethane, such as coarse bumps, with a handheld rotary tool fitted with a 120-grit sanding disk to score on hard-to-reach places on the furniture. What kind of finish is best for use on White Birch wood? Use a fine cut cleaner by McGuire's or 3M and follow the instructions on the bottle. An avid craftsman and musician, Deziel began writing on home improvement topics in 2010. UNLIMITED Membership is like taking a master class in woodworking for less than $10 a month. No air movement during application and for several hours after. Also does the technique vary for gloss vs matte/satin? What is the cost of health care in the US? Obviously you take great pains to try to ensure you don't have any dust in the environment before the final coat goes on. Our biweekly podcast allows editors, authors, and special guests to answer your woodworking questions and connect with the online woodworking community. To reveal flaws (bubbles, brush marks, etc.) The oft-cited ease of application eludes me, I find either wiped or brushed varnish to be easier to work with. Can you have a Clarketech artifact that you can replicate but cannot comprehend? Spread the varnish over the entire surface with long, even strokes. Let the finish fully cure! Sometimes when I apply polyurethane, for whatever reason, it's not completely smooth. Maybe a brush mark here and there, or a couple little nibs, etc. Help! Use a fine cut cleaner by McGuire's or 3M and follow the instructions on the bottle. If they are pimples and there aren't a lot of them, you could try to…, We removed old linoleum and found very nice pine flooring underneath. It isn't difficult to avoid making them in the first place -- it just takes a gentle touch when stirring the polyurethane and dipping your brush in it. I pre-coat my bases with a gel poly before I make my baskets to protect them from water while I am weaving. “The only way to correct this issue is to strip the finish down to bare wood, wipe it thoroughly with denatured alcohol, and restain. As to the air bubble thing, I did find a previous post that suggested heating up the wood before polying. :-)Dave, *Dave,Good post, your explaination about marine spar varnish is precisely why I use Interlux or Epifanes and always recommend it to others.As the shellac, try it. Scuff-sand the bubbles with 120-grit or finer sandpaper, depending on what you're finishing. I really do like the poly finish, just not those air bubbles.Thanks for all the help.....Janet, *Janet,Gel urethane? This should give you a table that is like a mirror. But why do people say to sand the nibs out? Before you try anything else, try "sanding" the surface with a piece of a brown paper bag. I'll try that too. 7. He’s helped with many This Old House TV projects over the years. Apply more finish when you've leveled the drips out. How do I actually smooth nibs and other small irregularities out of polyurethane? @grfrazee, yes, most any brown paper from wrapping paper to paper bags will do it. Apply the finish gently to the sanded area, with as few brush strokes as possible. Repeat the polish process with a swirl mark remover. Here’s what he had to say about your problem. - I've been careful not to paint the polyurethane on, and go over it once at the end in strokes that span the length of the piece. In a couple of … Repair drips in a lacquer, shellac or varnish finish by sanding them out with a lubricated sheet of 220-grit wet/dry sandpaper. OOP implementation of Rock Paper Scissors game logic in Java. No air movement during application and for several hours after. Polyurethane flaking and safety concerns for baby, How to stop paint from running through pine wood grain, Complete Illustrated Guide to Woodworking USB, From the Editor: Publishing during a pandemic, Save 56% off the magazine newsstand price. A light mist knocks them out. After sanding (fine grit sandpaper or 0000 steel wool), wipe off the dust with a rag soaked in mineral spirits, then apply the final coat in a dust-free environment so that you don't get any more nibs in the finish. © 2020 The Taunton Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe to Fine Woodworking today and get our lowest price of the season - only $20 for one year. It is still tacky and not drying at all. Q: I sanded, cleaned, and applied one coat of a high build poly to my floors 7 days ago. Two axioms for furniture finishers are that you shouldn't shake the can before applying polyurethane and you shouldn't wipe the brush along the side of the can. We had it sanded, stained and polyurethaned. How to consider rude(?) Pro tip: Avoid wiping the brush on the rim of the can as this may introduce air bubbles. Where should small utility programs store their preferences? Mentor added his name as the author and changed the series of authors into alphabetical order, effectively putting my name at the last, Looking for a function that approximates a parabola. Become an UNLIMITED member and get it all: searchable online archive of every issue, how-to videos, Complete Illustrated Guide to Woodworking digital series, print magazine, e-newsletter, and more. The main difference is that you can soften noncuring finishes with a solvent after they've hardened. This website suggests the following technique to polish a gloss polyurethane finish: You should use an automotive polishing compound and a buffer for big areas. You don't really think that I would post something here and risk the wrath of whomever, with out having done it myself do you?:)Dano. Buff the surface with car polish for a shiny finish or use paste wax for a satin finish. Simichrome, Flitz or T-Cut to rub out the finish to its final high gloss. Woodworking Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professional and amateur woodworkers. I stained it with a good bit of poly still on the floor. © Copyright 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc. You can soften lacquer and shellac simply by spraying them with a solvent, which may be preferable to spraying more finish onto one that is already sufficiently built up. There’s a lot of confusion over the difference between these two popular wood sealants, and it’s important to know what sets them apart so you can choose the right topcoat for your project. If the varnish you're using is forming excessive bubbles, thin it with 10 percent thinner to help it flow out more smoothly. The floor and work area needs to be thoroughly clean as well. Mike Pekovich has a sled for each job: a sled for cutting dovetails, one with a sliding fence for box joints, a sled with a lower fence and stops for cutting dadoes, one with a tall fence for cutting tenons, and a dedicated sled for mitered boxes. Shouldn't some stars behave as black hole? Apply the First Coat of Polyurethane. What can I do? They can form even when you use a high-quality paintbrush, however, and if you don't catch them while they're fresh, they become part of the finish. Again, clean all residue with a damp cloth and buff clean with a cotton cloth.