Sanding Poly to match

[Ryan Tea]

I have a Chestnut table that I built that ended up splitting at the breadboard from glue or epoxy that seeped in one corner. I drilled out the breadboard and released the sticking point which immediately snapped back together.

The table was spray finished with a two part and I am using Min Wax fast drying poly (oil) to attempt to match the original spray finish. I put on the first coat thinned with mineral spirits. My question is, the areas that I sanded are touching some of the finished areas. Once the poly dries (24 hours I think is best), is there a way to lightly sand and blend the older spray finish into the new poly?

I am using oil based and it seems to matching pretty good. I was going to do two more coats of straight poly. I just want to somehow be able to blend it. Any tips or tricks?

Thanks!

[Patrick Chase]

I have a Chestnut table that I built that ended up splitting at the breadboard from glue or epoxy that seeped in one corner. I drilled out the breadboard and released the sticking point which immediately snapped back together.

The table was spray finished with a two part and I am using Min Wax fast drying poly (oil) to attempt to match the original spray finish. I put on the first coat thinned with mineral spirits. My question is, the areas that I sanded are touching some of the finished areas. Once the poly dries (24 hours I think is best), is there a way to lightly sand and blend the older spray finish into the new poly?

There will be witness lines where your added coats of poly end and expose the existing finish. That's just the nature of crosslinking varnishes (as opposed to evaporative coatings like nitro or shellac). The only thing you can do to avoid that is to put a top coat of poly over the entire surface, such that there are no exposed inter-coat boundaries.

[Bennett Ostroff]

^Agreed. Fresh coat on the entire surface.

[Wayne Lomman]

Before you get carried away and recoat the whole job, you need to build up your repair area so that the grain is just as full as the rest of the top. Just brush it on the repair. Then sand the whole job evenly and coat everything. If you don't do this, you will still see the repair despite all the hard work. Cheers

[Ryan Tea]

Thank you all for the responses. I am building up the area now with three coats total. I am sanding lightly in between with 320. Once it’s built up, I am going to give one final coat to the entire piece. Thanks again!