Re-finishing a Cabinet top

[George Bokros]

I have a cabinet top that is dyed and finished with six coats or ArmRseal that I may need to refinish. I do not want to use a stripper. Could I sand through the ArmRseal with 80 grit paper then proceed through the rest of the finishing schedule without problems or would I have to use a stripper. I do not want to refinish the edges or bottom.

Thanks

[Prashun Patel]

That's a rich question.

Why do you need to refinish?
Are you planning to refinish with more ArmRSeal or a different topcoat?
Do you want to remove or preserve the color?

[George Bokros]

I have a few runs of ArmRseal from the edges of the cutout in the middle. I would re-dye the top and the re-apply ArmRseal. I am concerned that if I sand with say 320 or 400 grit paper I may sand through the top coat and actually sand off some of the dye.

[scott vroom]

I would re-dye the top and the re-apply ArmRseal.

I am concerned that if I sand with say 320 or 400 grit paper I may sand through the top coat and actually sand off some of the dye.


Hi George,

Those 2 sentences seem to be at odds with one another.

To answer your question, stripper isn't necessary. And I'd start out with a finer grit than 80.

[George Bokros]

I I am concerned that if I sand with say 320 or 400 grit paper I may sand through the top coat and actually sand off some of the dye.

Scott, what I mean by this sentence is that if I try to just sand out the runs I would go through the dye and need to refinish the top in its entirety.

Would you say then to start with say 100 grit and progress though the sanding schedule I used which was through 22.

[scott vroom]

Got it. When sanding out runs I use a small piece of 220-320 grit and press it onto the run with a finger using short, fast strokes while trying to avoid hitting the adjacent area. I'd give that a try first and if it fails then sand off the entire top and re-do.

I should add that the runs I get are typically from sprayed WB poly, which sands fairly easily. I'm not sure how difficult it be to sand a small run in Arm-R-Seal.....but it costs virtually nothing to try.

[John TenEyck]

George, if there are just a few runs, you might be able to eliminate them with a razor blade or scraper followed by a little hand sanding, and then apply another coat of Arm-R-Seal to just the surfaces where those runs were. I don't see the need to sand the whole thing unless I didn't understand the problem. Pics always help.

John

[scott vroom]

Would you say then to start with say 100 grit and progress though the sanding schedule I used which was through 220.

Or 120 or 150. Just depends on how fast you want to take off the old finish and how much time you want to spend walking back up to 220.

[George Bokros]

Thanks for the help everyone. I just sanded with 600 grit and it appears that I have greatly improved the situation. The runs were right at the edge and though careful I did sand through the dye on the corner but was able to touch up using a Q-tip dipped some dye. Now I just need to let the dye dry and apply another coat of ArmRseal.

[scott vroom]

Thanks for the help everyone. I just sanded with 600 grit and it appears that I have greatly improved the situation. The runs were right at the edge and though careful I did sand through the dye on the corner but was able to touch up using a Q-tip dipped some dye. Now I just need to let the dye dry and apply another coat of ArmRseal.

That's great, George! Nice to avoid a complete strip.