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Thread: Abrading Waterlox Urethane

  1. #1

    Abrading Waterlox Urethane

    Hi. We have been working on a cubby system for the local High School band room to store the instruments as part of an Eagle Scout Project. Been working on it for 7 months. The cubbies are made out of 3/4" Baltic Birch Plywood and we decided to use Waterlox Urethane to finish. We have six of these with varying cubbies. Four of them have overall dimensions of are 27" wide, 29" deep, and 72" high and the last two are 78" high. Attached is a photo with one that has the most cubbies and also one showing the six together.

    We have done the three coats of Urethane over the entire cabinet and a fourth coat on the bottom and side inside of each cubby. Each coat was done around 24 to 48 hours apart (we first did all coat 1, then coat 2, then coat 3). Since it is more than 12 hours between coats, we have been lightly abrading. Initially we were abrading with steel wool. We then change to a 3M maroon pad (320 grit). Also, the recommended application rate is 1 quart to 125sf however, based on what we used, we are closer to 1 quart per 225sf. I believe this is due to how much vertical surface we have and if we went any heavier, we got drips.

    Now that we are done, I am concern we did not abrade enough between coats. I wanted to abrade more but since I tend to overdo things my wife (who did most the finishing) wanted to stay on the lighter side. The abrading was light with probably 4 or 5 passes with the steel wool or maroon pad (when we changed to pad). Rubbing a finger after abrading there was a small amount of dust on the finger. Some areas more than others. We then cleaned with a vacuum and tack cloth and then applied the next coat.

    Although we are done and no going back, I am concerned that if we did not abrade enough we might have an issue with the finish and looking for some input on thoughts if we may have a problem with the finish peeling that we will have to address later. I should have come here sooner.

    This is the first big project we did. The scouts were great in participating on assembly and finish. Just hope there are no issues with the finish.

    thanks for reading.

    Mike

    10 Cubbies 72in Tall.jpg
    https://www.dropbox.com/s/kf0fh4yh7d...0Tall.jpg?dl=0

    All Six Cubbies.jpg
    https://www.dropbox.com/s/6s0i4dqakc...bbies.jpg?dl=0
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Mike Rossi; 10-11-2020 at 6:00 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    Denver, CO
    Posts
    209
    It will be absolutely fine. Waterlox doesn’t require sanding between coats for adhesion, so the little you did sand will be more than enough.

  3. #3
    Thanks for the response. We used waterlox urethane and not waterlox original.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    Denver, CO
    Posts
    209
    Ah, my fault. They do say light sanding between coats for that product. I still think you should be fine given the process you described.

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