Before I give this a try, I thought I would see if anyone else has done so, and what the results were. Not much point repeating someone else's mistakes.

I use wipe-on poly to finish bowls, usually putting on quite a number of coats, to the point that the wood won't absorb any more. That could be as many as a dozen coats. Can get a bit tedious: apply, dry, steel wool rub, repeat.

I wonder what would happen if I immerse a bowl in polyurethane, in a vacuum chamber, and keep a vacuum on it until the bubbles stop, then let the vacuum off so it will absorb poly in place of the air previously in the wood. Then, take it out, let it dry, and proceed with what I hope be a much-shortened finishing process.

My assumption is that the polyurethane would be re-usable (the surplus not absorbed by the wood). I don't think being under a vacuum would change its working characteristics. I would weight the bowl with something to keep it immersed, not floating. I have the equipment, having used it for vacuum-resin stabilization with extremely spalted (and therefore very colorful) wood, so it shouldn't be a very costly experiment.

Any thoughts?

Robert