What did I do wrong

[JohnM Martin]

After the first coat of arm-r-seal (satin) dried overnight, I'm wondering what I did so wrong, and can I salvage it? For starters, it is a solid wood walnut table that I sanded down to 150 prior to applying finish. I stirred the finish really well (no shaking) and applied the finish at full strength with a foam brush. It went on looking pretty good, but after an hour or so things started to look streaky, cloudy and milky. Can anyone explain what I'm seeing and offer some advice? In the worst case, will Citristrip take it off?

I was planning on doing more coats? Should i even bother or just strip and start over?

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[Phil Mueller]

I’m no expert in this matter, but it seems that the “milky” spots may just be where the finish soaked in more. It appears those areas are knots and wild grain which would absorb more finish. I’d just give it a light sanding and apply another coat or two (sanding in between) and see if it evens out.

My experience is that it takes 3-4 coats to get an even sheen.

[Robert Engel]

John,

I agree with Phil. The grain around knots, etc is basically end grain and has to be sanded higher than 150.

I would resand 220 than go to 320.

[Frederick Skelly]

I agree with Phil and Bob - try another couple coats.

[Todd Mason-Darnell]

I am with everyone else. That is just the end grain soaking up finish faster.

[Steve Eure]

I agree with the others. My usual plan of attack is to use a dewaxed shellac or sanding sealer before applying any finish. That way it seals some of the end grain and doesn't allow the finish to absorb too far into the wood. It also helps with blotching down the road.

[JohnM Martin]

After the second coat, things looking better. Still some unevenness. Do I keep going with additional coats until it evens out?

[glenn bradley]

I would say yes. this is why I cringe when people advocate stopping at 150 grit if the piece is not going to get a nice, thick sprayed on top coat to present a smooth surface. I use oil based finishes that absorb well and perform a little more surface prep than you have described. This all varies with what you are doing and how.

For me if a surface isn't going right from a hand plane or scraper to the finishing steps there will usually be sandpaper involved. Face grain usually stops at 220 grit with curly, reversing or end grain areas going as high as 800 or more depending.

End grain at 400 still shows darker than the face grain and this can be on purpose as part of your overall look:

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End grain at 800 better matches the overall coloration of the piece. This allows the detail elevations and not the difference in color to present a more subtle overall look:

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You can also minimize the absorption differences with a seal coat prior to your top coat in the future. At this stage your previous two coats are your seal coat so an additional 2 or 3 coats should get you where you can consider additional steps.

Once you have a good film with a good appearance you may need to 'finish the finish' by rubbing out or even by sanding level with some 1200 or 1500 grit using some mineral spirits as a lube. If you get the look you are after with just the additional coats, stop there ;-)

[JohnM Martin]

Well, heres how it looks after applying the (hopefully last) 5th coat. Certainly not perfect, but much better than I thought it would look after that first coat. Thank you for all the helpful responses.

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[Todd Mason-Darnell]

Looks great.

[Dan Kopack]

Keep going, sand with 220, apply coat, sand with 300+, end with 000 steel wool

[Bennett Ostroff]

Looks great. What's not perfect about the finish?

[JohnM Martin]

Looks great. What's not perfect about the finish?

It turned out better than expected... After the first coat of finish, I was not confident it was going to end the way it did.

[JohnM Martin]

Completed project.

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[Jim Morgan]

Very nice.