Wipe on Poly beads now that I changed paint stripper brand

[Peter Lum]

I am a novice refinishing my oak cabinets. They have a clear coat on them that has yellowed (I think its lacquer) and my wife wanted a dark color. My process is probably not the best one but until now its been working. I strip the lacquer with paint stripper, clean it off with odorless mineral spirits, sand it with 220, remove dust by vacuum and a cloth with a small amount of mineral spirits. Then I use two coats of General Finishes Java wipe on stain, one coat of Minwax wipe on gloss poly and two coats of Min wax wipe on satin poly. I allow everything ample drying time inbetween coats.

The cabinets have been looking good until now the Minwax poly is repelled by the surface. It barely sticks and then only is very small beads. I know its not the weather or the poly because it only beeds on certain sections, specifically the sections where I used Klean-Strip Premium stripper. Before I was using Citristrip Gel stripper. The only other thing I can think of is I've also been trying to clean the wood better after stripping with a scotch bright pad dipped in mineral spirits. The stain has been going on the same as before so I'm really confused as to why the Minwax wipe on poly is being repelled. FYI its not the weather, the pol, or the drying time of the stain, because I had some cabinets stripped with the Citristrip and the poly is going on fine.

What's going on? Do I need to go back redo the sections I stripped with the Klean-Strip and start over?

[John TenEyck]

If I understand you correctly, everthing is OK through the staining process and the problem only occurs when you go to wipe on the poly, yes? And this only happens where you used the Klean-Strip. I had a problem once with Bartley's wipe on stains, on new wood no less, where their own gel poly wanted to bead up when I applied it over their gel stain. It could be that I let the gel stain cure too long, and that might be your issue as well. Poly doesn't really like to stick to itself. After I sanded the stained surface with 220 grit and wiped it clean with mineral spirits, the gel poly went on OK. Maybe that would work for you. Another potential cure would be to brush, wipe, or spray on a coat of SealCoat Shellac over the stain and then try wiping your poly on top of that. Hope this helps. Maybe Howard, Scott, or one of the other more experienced finishers know what the root cause is and can offer better advise.

[Jesse Tutterrow]

It could be that I let the gel stain cure too long.

I never heard this before. Usually it is not letting the previous coat dry long enough. Is there really a "too long" between coats?

[John TenEyck]

I never heard this before. Usually it is not letting the previous coat dry long enough. Is there really a "too long" between coats?

On the can of many polyurethane products it will say to recoat within 24 hours or, if you wait longer, to scuff sand prior to recoating. So when I said "too long" I meant that I had waited longer than 24 hours but did not scuff sand.

[Don Jarvie]

This is a stab in the dark. The Klean-Strip may be a solvent base and the Citrus a water base. When you are cleaning with the mineral spirits all of the Klean strip isn't getting out of the wood all the way, some residual is left. When you add the stain it reactivates the stripper so the stain and stripper mix and dry together. When you put the poly on it reactivates the stain/stripper and the stripper doesn't allow it to stick.

This is just a theory but when you think of what the stain, stripper and poly are made of, mostly solvents, it does make some sense.


Sand everything really good and use plently of mineral spirits to get rid of all the stripper and see what happens.

[Scott Holmes]

Most strippers; at least the good ones that contain methylene chloride as the active ingedient need to be thoroughly wiped down with mineral spirits after the stripping is completed. Thorough cleaning after the stripper is very important... the directions on the can of striper should tell you exactly how to clean and remove the residual stripper.

FYI mineral spirits is a solvent for WAX; it is not a solvent for stains, varnish, or strippers; in these products it's used as a thinner.