Using WOP

[Roger Tulk]

it took me 20 seconds to understand your post, pretty funny though.

I couldn't for the life of me think what WOP stood for.

[Ryan Mooney]

Mike as a person who has used gallons of Wipe On Poly here is what I have found wipe on a thin coat let dry, sand (I prefer the 3m sanding sponges) with 300 and repeat. Thin coats don't try to put on to much ata time I typically do a min of 6 coats and have done as many as 12.

Yep, I like the Mirka 320 for between coats because it doesn't load to badly and is cheaper than the sponges (or other papers I've tried with similar performance). I may or may not wipe between coats depending on the wood. For oak I leave the fine dust on for most of the initial coats and kind of "burnish" each coat into the pores, for smoother woods like cherry wiping off the dust gets it smooth quicker (and for porous woods I'd still do the last couple of coats wiped clean first).

I also use a finer sandpaper (600 maybe or 00 to 000 wool equivalent) on the last coat and then add ~2 coats of carnuba for a final polish.

Once done flat pieces are smooth enough that I can't stack them if there is any slope.

The great thing about this is that it works pretty well for those of us with less than optimal finishing conditions, the bad thing is that its tedious as all get out.

[Rennie Heuer]

When I get to the final coats I switch from 400 paper to 0000 steel wool.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Uh, wipe on polyester? Took a while.

Close...it's polyurethane.

[Ryan Mooney]

Close...it's polyurethane.

Wipe on Polyester is what they wore to the Disco in the 70's.