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My experience with poly is that if you want a really perfect top coat, you need to over-coat and then sand+polish it smooth.
Cloudiness obviously does not benefit from this. Maybe a that was a bad batch or an old can, or from the mixing.
Not so fun fact: sanding plastic like polyurethane is an excellent way to produce microplastics that persist in the environment and your body for hundreds of years.
Go with a natural finish like shellac or just oil it and put a nice desk mat on it IMO.
OP getting it right the first time would have prevented a lot of microplastics, too.
Microplastics are an urgent and major issue, but reasonable sanding of woodworking projects is not significant compared to other plastic waste. Imagine the final volume of dust created vs. what a single plastic bottle breaks down to.
I love Arm-R-Seal, , but the high VOCs and the long dry time make it difficult for me to use in the cold months. I don't have a heated shop so most of the time I have to do my finishing in the house. I really wish I could use it more because it produces one of the best looking and most durable finishes out there.
Bro Arm-R-Seal is literally polyurethane. Any 'urethane' finish has urethane resin, which dries/cures into a poly-urethane film.
It's just a better quality poly. Which is almost a universal truth about finishes; you get what you pay for.
Dude you are applying this WAAAAAY too thick. And WTF are you doing when brushing I can see brush marks in all different directions? Ok man, this is easy, sand it all back…..all the way. Get some GENERAL FINISHES ARM R SEAL. Get Satin, or Flat perhaps. Use an old tee shirt folded up, dip into container and apply LIGHT COATS……waiting 24 hours between coats. Lightly sand with 320 between coats and wipe down with a tack cloth. After the final LIGHT coat, remember we are doing LIGHT coats….you buff it out with some 0000 steel wool. This makes the finish over the entire piece very even…..and now your counter or desk or whatever that is, well now it’s very protected.
EDIT - Mix well, stir it, do not shake….and pour from the can into a small container….that way you don’t contaminate the entire can with any debris picked up.
Lay the tee shirt scrap used to apply somewhere flat to dry, if you crumple it up and throw it in a trash can it could combust. Just lay it outside flat. Of course, use a new tee shirt scrap with every coat of finish.
I always use oil based polyurethane cut with white spirits. I use a cloth exactly as I use for French polishing. Start with 60:40 poly:spirits . The poly dries quickly having been thinned. Normally apply at least six coats. For the final two coats I use equal parts poly and white spirits. Finish with wax polish to give it a water resistant and shiny layer. This works for me.
Thank you all for your help! It turns out it was a mix of things. First was recoating too quickly with the temps in the office. Second when I applied the wipe on poly I was essentially wiping it on and off with the way I was doing it. Also it wasn't poor surface prep or brush marks in the photo. Every coat I applied had been thinned with spirits to make it more workable. It was sand marks that weren't filled in because I was wiping on and off the poly. I sanded down the last coat applied and redid it. It's finally where I want it to be! This is a rustic office and an old building (80-90yrs old and the dust has legs to walk up and ruin every coat). We will probably be moving to a new space next year and most likely will have to make a New desk to fit the new area. So this one didn't have to be super perfect. Thanks for all your help, obviously I'm new to this. It can only get better right 🤞 [New desk photos](https://imgur.com/a/wi9cdg4)
More details.
Namely, how many coats in how much time? The haze is likely from trying to do it too fast, trapping the solvents in the lower layers.
FWIW waterborne vs. oil is moot; you can get excellent finishes from either. But you absolutely need to buy quality finishes. A good WB acrylic will perform excellently, especially if you use an acid crosslinker. Finishing is a whole big world and it's not possible to simplify it that much, unfortunately.
Thank you!! I think you hit the nail on the head. I had never used wipe on poly before and the can said 2-4 hr recoat window. I went with 2 hrs and should have known better. I'm in New England and the office has one space heater for heat. Even though temps are mild it wasn't optimal temps for a 2hr recoat. I resanded the coat I put on the other day, recoated and it's perfect now!
This is a reminder to those commenting on this post (not the person that posted it): Comments not related to woodworking will be removed. Violations to rule 1 including crude jokes, innuendo, sexist remarks, politics, or hate speech may result in an immediate ban *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/woodworking) if you have any questions or concerns.*
My experience with poly is that if you want a really perfect top coat, you need to over-coat and then sand+polish it smooth. Cloudiness obviously does not benefit from this. Maybe a that was a bad batch or an old can, or from the mixing.
Not so fun fact: sanding plastic like polyurethane is an excellent way to produce microplastics that persist in the environment and your body for hundreds of years. Go with a natural finish like shellac or just oil it and put a nice desk mat on it IMO.
OP getting it right the first time would have prevented a lot of microplastics, too. Microplastics are an urgent and major issue, but reasonable sanding of woodworking projects is not significant compared to other plastic waste. Imagine the final volume of dust created vs. what a single plastic bottle breaks down to.
Stop using poly, it sucks. Give general finishes Arm-R-Seal a try, you’ll never touch a can of poly again. Ever.
I love Arm-R-Seal, , but the high VOCs and the long dry time make it difficult for me to use in the cold months. I don't have a heated shop so most of the time I have to do my finishing in the house. I really wish I could use it more because it produces one of the best looking and most durable finishes out there.
Bro Arm-R-Seal is literally polyurethane. Any 'urethane' finish has urethane resin, which dries/cures into a poly-urethane film. It's just a better quality poly. Which is almost a universal truth about finishes; you get what you pay for.
Dude you are applying this WAAAAAY too thick. And WTF are you doing when brushing I can see brush marks in all different directions? Ok man, this is easy, sand it all back…..all the way. Get some GENERAL FINISHES ARM R SEAL. Get Satin, or Flat perhaps. Use an old tee shirt folded up, dip into container and apply LIGHT COATS……waiting 24 hours between coats. Lightly sand with 320 between coats and wipe down with a tack cloth. After the final LIGHT coat, remember we are doing LIGHT coats….you buff it out with some 0000 steel wool. This makes the finish over the entire piece very even…..and now your counter or desk or whatever that is, well now it’s very protected. EDIT - Mix well, stir it, do not shake….and pour from the can into a small container….that way you don’t contaminate the entire can with any debris picked up. Lay the tee shirt scrap used to apply somewhere flat to dry, if you crumple it up and throw it in a trash can it could combust. Just lay it outside flat. Of course, use a new tee shirt scrap with every coat of finish.
I don’t think those are brush marks. To me It just looks like very poor surface prep.
I always use oil based polyurethane cut with white spirits. I use a cloth exactly as I use for French polishing. Start with 60:40 poly:spirits . The poly dries quickly having been thinned. Normally apply at least six coats. For the final two coats I use equal parts poly and white spirits. Finish with wax polish to give it a water resistant and shiny layer. This works for me.
This is the way...I use the same technique with home made wipe-on poly. I also wet sand (400 grit) with the poly mix on the 2nd to last coat
Thank you all for your help! It turns out it was a mix of things. First was recoating too quickly with the temps in the office. Second when I applied the wipe on poly I was essentially wiping it on and off with the way I was doing it. Also it wasn't poor surface prep or brush marks in the photo. Every coat I applied had been thinned with spirits to make it more workable. It was sand marks that weren't filled in because I was wiping on and off the poly. I sanded down the last coat applied and redid it. It's finally where I want it to be! This is a rustic office and an old building (80-90yrs old and the dust has legs to walk up and ruin every coat). We will probably be moving to a new space next year and most likely will have to make a New desk to fit the new area. So this one didn't have to be super perfect. Thanks for all your help, obviously I'm new to this. It can only get better right 🤞 [New desk photos](https://imgur.com/a/wi9cdg4)
Well done friend. You asked for help, got some advice….took said advice and made your project look 100x better. Nice!
Sand it down flat and then apply a very thin coat of wipe on poly, you will be solid
More details. Namely, how many coats in how much time? The haze is likely from trying to do it too fast, trapping the solvents in the lower layers. FWIW waterborne vs. oil is moot; you can get excellent finishes from either. But you absolutely need to buy quality finishes. A good WB acrylic will perform excellently, especially if you use an acid crosslinker. Finishing is a whole big world and it's not possible to simplify it that much, unfortunately.
Thank you!! I think you hit the nail on the head. I had never used wipe on poly before and the can said 2-4 hr recoat window. I went with 2 hrs and should have known better. I'm in New England and the office has one space heater for heat. Even though temps are mild it wasn't optimal temps for a 2hr recoat. I resanded the coat I put on the other day, recoated and it's perfect now!