Use floor waterborne finish on cabinets?

[Jack Morrow]

OK, first post, so be gentle.

I am building open cabinets / shelves that will hold childrens play articles for our chuch. They will see lots a abuse and I've noticed a cabinet built by someone else and put into service less than a year ago is showing its age.

We have sand in the area where the cabinet will be placed, and taking and replacing things from the shelves with sand on them is really taking a toll.

I used Bona Mega to finish my office and 2 staircases about 10 years ago. I'm still amazed at the easy application, the durability, and the appearance that looks great to this day.

Well, the question. Are there reasons not to use Bona Mega or a similar "floor" product for my application? If a "floor, waterborne" product is not suitable, then what do you suggest?

Thanks,

Jack

[Jason Roehl]

You certainly can use the floor finish on cabinets, but you may be pulling your hair out. Floor finish is designed to level like there's no tomorrow, so any time you put it on a vertical surface, you are risking runs. Many thin coats would be the order of the day. I do like the Mega when I refinish floors, though.

[Joe Chritz]

Sand is going to kill everything you put it on. Polyurethane floor finishes included.

It should hold up better than a lot of other finishes but I would think about something easy to repair and plan on refinishing the flat surfaces every year or two.

Depending on the design you could also use an alternate material for the shelves.

Joe

[Jack Morrow]

You certainly can use the floor finish on cabinets, but you may be pulling your hair out. Floor finish is designed to level like there's no tomorrow, so any time you put it on a vertical surface, you are risking runs. Many thin coats would be the order of the day. I do like the Mega when I refinish floors, though.

Thanks, you saved me from another mess.

Any product recommedations?

[Sam Shank]

I've been using bona mega for years on floors. Love it. They other poster is correct in that it levels extremely well. You might have to spray many many VERY thin coats on your vertical surfaces to avoid runs. I have never sprayed it, just applied with an 18" T-bar to floors.

[Jason Roehl]

I've brushed it on vertical surfaces before, like the risers when finishing steps. Like I said, it just has to be thin. The bonus to that is the coats will dry very quickly, so you can put quite a few on in a very short time. With the right needle, it would spray quite well with an HVLP, but I've even sprayed it on pine T&G floors with an airless before (gaps were too big to t-bar it).

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
I just finished a 20 X 15 living room's hardwood floors with Minwax's water poly floor finish.
Decent results using a pad applicator.
Having the best part of a gallon left over, I used it on some baseboard trim to see how it works.
Not so decent results brushing it.

LOL!
Is there a term for running that imparts more than run? :D

Oddly, with such an enormous amount of flow, there's an excessive amount of brushmarks in the finish. It didn't matter what brush I used either. I tried a cheap throw away, a foam one, a fairly high quality polyester and even one of my prized old Wooster Brush china bristle ones.
It made no difference.

The other oddity I experienced with it.
The stuff is downright uncomfortable to remove from your skin if it sets up. I didn't pay real close attention to keeping it off of my fingers and hands - not the first coat anyhow - but for dang sure the second and third. It dried for about an hour or so before I washed - or I should say TRIED to wash it off. It wouldn't budge. I ended up having to peel it off.
Like I say,,,uncomfortable. Not painful, but it left my fingertips pretty sensative - kind of like it pulled a tiny bit of skin off with it.
Odd.