wipe on poly

Chris Mire

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945
Location
Southern Louisiana
if you have used this before, how many coats did you put on?

i am finishing my bamboo cabinets with minwax wipe on and i am on the 3rd coat. sanded after 2 coats. i think it looks good with three. is 3 coats enough of this stuff?
 
Just me, but I usually go to 5, though I have gone to 7 once or twice for high use items like a table top. After the second coat I switch to 0000 steel wool between coats.
 
The usual mix is about 50% varnish and 50% mineral spirits and the rule of thumb is three coats of wiping varnish equals one coat brushed. The neat thing about mixing your own is you can tweak the amounts to suit the project. Although I am sure no one except me is interested but you can also save some money.

Regards

Jerry
 
Like Royall, I've used a 50/50 (or 1/1) mix of poly and naphtha. I've also used other combinations depending on what I was doing. Other combos are:
BLO/Naphtha/Poly - 1/1/1
Poly/Naphtha - 1/2 and 1/3
BLO/Naphtha - 1/1, 1/2 or 1/3

Various combos for specific situations.
 
I wipe fresh Poly straight from the can, no need to thin and does an excellant job. Takes fewer coats than the "wipe-on" products.

Wiping lays down a thinner coat than brushing so take that into consideration.

I reciently re did a set of cabinet doors I did 30 years ago (and cabinet face frame) Was not using Poly at the time, another Oil based "water proof" finish.

Washed down with Scotch Brites and Mineral Spirits, touched up with the same mixture of stain I used back then. Wiped on two coats of "From the can" poly. scuffed with 300 paper and then wiped a wet coat from the "Wipe-on" can. Looks like a factory sprayed finish (Mama be so happy)

My technique is to use swatches of old Tee shirt material, folded into a square pad held with a hemostat. Apply in one direction, full length strokes. Poly goes through several apperances as it dries. First the wet look when you apply, then as it settles, it emits gasses and appears to be "grainy" textured (this is where we usually mess up thinking we didn't apply correctly and try to clean up by adding more) If you will leave it alone overnight, tomorrow you will find that the poly has emmited all its gasses or fumes and now has leveled out to a smooth hard surface.
 
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