Any furniture refinishers??

[itsbob]

I'm refinishing the dining room table, and have one leaf out to "experiment" with (nice way of saying when I screw up it will only be the leaf and not the entire table) have put down two coats of stain and it looked great. Now am putting on two or three coats of water based Polyurethane.

My issue is, it's apparent there is more to applying polyurethane than "Apply coat, let dry, apply second coat, repeat a third time DONE!"

How do I sand/ buff out the ridges and brush marks without going back to square one?

I don't have an orbital polisher/ buffer, and in fact just got a 6 inch Randon Orbital sander to do this work. Now I'm thinking I'm going to need more. Cutting and polishing compounds?? Wet sanding??

Anyone?

 

[huntr1]

I'm refinishing the dining room table, and have one leaf out to "experiment" with (nice way of saying when I screw up it will only be the leaf and not the entire table) have put down two coats of stain and it looked great. Now am putting on two or three coats of water based Polyurethane.

My issue is, it's apparent there is more to applying polyurethane than "Apply coat, let dry, apply second coat, repeat a third time DONE!"

How do I sand/ buff out the ridges and brush marks without going back to square one?

I don't have an orbital polisher/ buffer, and in fact just got a 6 inch Randon Orbital sander to do this work. Now I'm thinking I'm going to need more. Cutting and polishing compounds?? Wet sanding??

Anyone?

If you do light enough coats, the brush marks should self level.

Sanding block and 220 wet sandpaper in between coats. After final coat, do 220, 400, 600, 1000 (all wet) then buff with polishing compound if it's not smooth enough for you. It's going to take 4-5 light coats to get a really good finish as you will end up sanding half of it off.

 

[DoWhat]

Steel wool.

 

[somdforever]

If you are using a water-based urethane, try using a sponge brush. Put on light coats and let them dry at least 24 hours. LIGHTLY sand each dry coat with 1000-1200 grit sand paper. No need to wet-sand. After each LIGHT sanding, use a tack cloth to wipe everything down. The secret to a very good poly finish is to make sure there is no foreign objects to get embedded in the urethane. After the second coat has dried, look at the finish and see if looks smooth; no air bubbles or brush strokes. If it appears good, you can then use some double 00 steel wool and rub it down lightly. Again, use the tack cloth to collect all the residu. The finish will appear a little dull (maybe even a little white) but that's OK. Apply a 3rd coat even lighter than the first 2. Let dry completely (at least 48 hours). The finish should then be like glass and last a long time. For professional looking finish, take your time; the table is not going anywhere.

 

[aps45819]

Steel wool.

Size 0000

If you haven't started yet, consider an oil finish like Danish Oil. Rubs on and is absorbed into the wood. I have a coffee table with about 7 coats. No worries about water rings and the boy can't accidentally scratch through the finish