Help - cloudy waterborne polyurethane finish

[Drew Bernat]

I'm working on a project in white oak with the following finishing schedule:

Transtint dye in vodka
General Finishes seal-a-cell
Gel stain, wiped off
General Finishes performance waterbased polyurethane

I left 3 days between each step as instructed. Some of the pieces are hazy - see pictures below. Wiping with mineral spirits temporarily eliminates the haze (see the third picture - the shiny part was wiped) but it comes back when the piece dries. Any suggestions? Any idea why I got the milky white goo?

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[John TenEyck]

3 days might not have been enough for the OB stain to dey if the RH was really high. Even when I'm sure it's dry I never like putting WB over OB unless I first seal it with dewaxed shellac. Your finish schedule works w/o problems when the finish is Arm-R-Seal instead of the WB poly.

How to fix what you've got now is a good question. Wait a few more days would be my first inclination. I'd call GF, too. If they can't offer any help then I might try a blush remover. You might also try a heat gun on low or an iron over a hard cotton or linen cloth. If everything fails then you are stuck and will have to start over.


John

[Drew Bernat]

The haze on the top is being stubborn, so I think I will just strip it back and try again. I may have covered it too soon. Or I need some shellac.

For the uprights, I think I didn't clean dust out of the pores well enough. That's tougher.