Slow drying poly

[Larry Rose]

Has any one had any problem with Minwax Polyurathane drying and can it get too old? The last two project I've used it on has taken 3-4 days for a coat to dry. The weather here has been unusualy warm and dry.

[Dennis Peacock]

Larry,

Sounds to me like you have some old Polyurethane. Dump it and get some fresh Polyurethane. Your drying time should be dry to touch in about 4 hours and totally dry in 24. You can better control your drying times like this:

To slow drying time: thin with Mineral Spirits
To speed drying time: thin with Naptha

Always try to use as fresh a finish as you can. I've had to toss a good bit of Poly. Now I use Lacquer and Shellac as my finishes of choice.

Hope this helps.

[Jim Becker]

Never buy more finish than you can use for the project at hand--or at least use quickly over several projects--if you can avoid it. While the cost of a quart is more per unit than a gallon...throwing out most of a gallon can be quite expensive! Finish has a short shelf-life once opened. (Some have a short shelf life even if you never opened them!) Given that the finish is the final "make or break" task for a project, please make the investment in fresh finish to reduce the chance of quality issues.