I am building a kitchen Island of cherry with a natural finish. When in woodworking store the other day I was discussing what finish to use with a salesman. I wanted a durable smooth satin finish without spraying and without the plastic buildup look. Salesman recommended General Finishes Arm-R-Seal (Oil & Urethane Topcoat) Satin with 6 or more coats. I said I would like to use foam brush rather than spray and was told that I could do that and should wipe it soon after applying.
When I got home I read the instructions "Preparation of Surfaces" on the back of the can, it says to sand raw wood no finer than 150 and the finish no finer than 220. I already sanded the beaded face frames to 320 and the legs were sanded on a lathe to 220 and show cross grain scratches. It is pretty difficult (not practical) to sand all parts of the legs with the grain to remove the scratches. Only way to make the scratches invisible on the end grain areas is to use 320 or higher grit. The beaded and transition areas are not able to be sanded with the grain.
I checked General Finishes website for better understanding of what could be the problem if I use their product on smooth surface and did not find an answer nor did I find a contact number or email to inquire. I only found Facebook, twitter, etc. and blog sites I could look at and post to. A quick look at the blog site for Arm-R-Seal had old posts so I felt it was unlikely I would receive timely feedback. Some day I may do Facebook but currently I am not comfortable with it.
In the past I have applied polyurethane, both water and oil based, from several manufacturers (not General Finishes) using spray, foam brush and wipe on. I have found that I had better results obtaining a smooth finish when I sanded the raw wood to 220 prior to finishing and then sanded to 320 after 1st or 2nd coat of water based and then 320 before final coat with either oil or water based. I usually applied 3 to 4 coats.
My questions are:
1. What happens if I sand all the raw cherry wood (the face frames are currently sanded to 320) to 320 prior to finishing with Arm-R-Seal?
2. What happens if I have different parts sanded to different grit, say 320 on face frames (because they are already sanded) and 220 on the legs? Both these are beyond the recommended 150 grit and the wood has visable scratches after sanding with 220. Will they disappear after finishing? I don't think so.
3. If I use 6 coats of Arm-R-Seal Satin, will the the wood color and grain be blunted or dulled due to satin build up? Basically, I am wondering if it would be better for me to use gloss on all but the last or last 2 coats?
4. The panels are not installed yet but will be finished before installation. The carcass as shown in attached photos will be finished with 2 coats to seal it inside and out and final exposed surfaces will be 5 or 6 coats.
5. Would I be better off using a different urethane or polyurethane finish?
It would be nice to have a customer support phone number to call at General Finishes or at least an email.
Thank you
Bob
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