Wiping on MinWax Fast Drying Poly

[Lee Schierer]

I recently had some base molding and window casing I wanted to finish. I didn't have any mineral spirits on hand to clean up the brush so I tried wiping it on with a piece of old cotton t-shirt. It turned out as good or better than brushing it on. I was careful to keep the pieces horizontal as it dried. The air temp where I was working was about 40 degrees and went below freezing at night. It took 24 hours between coats, but the finish set up just fine.

Has anyone else wiped on the Fast Drying Poly?

[Jim Becker]

It shouldn't be any different than any other oil based varnish for wiping, although it's pretty neat that you got good results with it un-thinned. I'm not sure just how "fast dry" "Fast Dry Poly" is, either...it could be more marketing or marginally faster. I only used it once and that was years ago.

[Prashun Patel]

How many coats did you use? More than 2? No streaks? What sheen?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Lee,

IMO, the fast drying poly from Minwax isn't as "thick" as it used to be. I am wiping it on right now on some knife handles. I plan on using it later today on the knife block too. After these are done, I am going to use it to finish a shop cabinet that needs finishing, just to use up some left over poly before I start my next project.

[Lee Schierer]

How many coats did you use? More than 2? No streaks? What sheen?

I applied 3 wet coats on stained red oak. I noted that wiping it on didn't seem to pick up any of the stain. The base molding is only 3-1/2" wide, casing 2-1/2", so streaking wasn't really a factor. I used semi-gloss and got a decent sheen on the hard parts of the grain, but the texture was still evident in the pore areas. I slowed down my wipe on speed when I noticed that faster wiping tended to create small bubbles, but I didn't see any bubbles in the dried finish. I think the slower drying due to the temperature may have allowed any bubbles to pop and any heavy areas to spread out before the set up.

[Lee Schierer]

Lee,

IMO, the fast drying poly from Minwax isn't as "thick" as it used to be. I am wiping it on right now on some knife handles. I plan on using it later today on the knife block too. After these are done, I am going to use it to finish a shop cabinet that needs finishing, just to use up some left over poly before I start my next project.

Ken, I agree, their current "Fast Drying" product seems thinner than I recall from previous uses.

[Prashun Patel]

Great! I did not realize this could be wiped unthinned.

[Mike Null]

I am a big fan of wipe on poly. About twenty years ago I bought some good unfinished red oak chairs to match a kitchen table I had made. I used Minwax stain and 5 coats of wipe on poly on the chairs and two or three times used 0000 steel wool on them in between coats. they look as good today as when new and they've had some hard use.

Surprised that you were able to get it to dry at that temperature.

[Lee Schierer]

Surprised that you were able to get it to dry at that temperature.

On the first two coats, the finish was still slightly tacky after 24 hours. I let the final coats dry for at least 48 hours before handling and use.

I regularly use brush on lacquer for furniture finish and I have applied it for years in an unheated building even in the winter months and it has cured just fine except for the time element. In fact yesterday it was 12 degrees and 16 degrees today in my building and I applied a coat of lacquer to my current project each day. You do need to allow a few extra days of curing before bringing it into a heated space or the pores in the wood can produce small bubbles as the trapped air heats up. Red oak is more prone to this than other woods.