Minwax Wipe On Poly

[Jim Baker]

We recently tried Wipe-On Poly for the first time on a small project that is made of Maple and Walnut. The maple part looks really good, but the finish on the walnut part is still sticky after 4 days. Any ideas why?

The piece was first finished with Watco Danish Oil and allowed to dry for several days. It looked like it could use a little more shine so we decided to try the Wipe On Poly. Could there be some sort of reaction between the two finishes? Maybe we put it on too thick? It's been a little humid. Why would the maple be perfect while the walnut is still sticky (in some places but not others)?

[Chris DeHut]

Hi Jim,

While I have not used minwax's product, I have used other wipe on poly products for many years. From my experience, there are two causes for this problem I have run into

1) Applied too much finish. If you apply too much finish, the finish has trouble drying in some cases. I had this happen only once.

2) Applying an oil finish over an oily wood - Padauk. This was one of those, I should have known better problems but I still gave it a try. The bad part was that I did this on a very large sculptural piece and I needed to save it.

Anytime I get "painted into a corner" with finish problems, I start by calling the mfg for a solution. I wish I could recall the the correction for the problem when I applied too much finish but I don't.

However, the solution recommeded to me by the mfg for the Padauk problem was spot on easy and worked perfect. They suggested I wipe down the project with mineral spirits a couple of times. I ended up wiping it down 3 times about and hour or so apart and everything dried nicely. What they explained to me is that the oils get trapped between the wood and the finish. By wiping down the surface with mineral spirits, you remove the oils and thus allow the finish to dry.

In your case, you could have both problems working against you -
too much applied and with the previous oil finish blocking the finish penitration into the wood. There is a good chance wiping it down with mineral spirits will take care of the problem. However, a quick call to Minwax might provide another possible solution.

Chris DeHut

[Alan Turner]

I am with Chris on this. I made an oil varnish mix, and wiped in on Padauk, which was the first time I used paduak. It did not dry, but I attributed it to older varnish. So, after a week or so with a bit of tackiness remaining, I wiped it down with Naptha, and the problem was gone instantly. Can't hurt to try either mineral spirits or naptha.
Alan

[Todd Burch]

I had a similar problem with a brushed (Pratt & Lambert #38) varnish over a minwax oil-based stain (red mahogany) on walnut. I boldly applied (brushed) the second coat of varnish anyway, and it dried just fine. After 2 years, no sign of any product failures yet.