How to prepare wax & grease remover rags?

I cant finish my project, the clear simply keeps stuffing up every now & then. with weird patterns & defects & i have absolutely no idea why.

I have done soo many butchered coats before on other stuff when the brush was half wet & not clean properly & used old canned clear & crappy old rags & got pefect results, now literally with new brushes, new canned clear I quit regularly get more screw ups I cant even finish this project. I doubt I will finish this, there is no explanation.

When the coat screws up I have to rug it back & it takes ages & runs the risk of rubbing through, than I need to build up the layers again slowly. I had it all perfect yesterday & was ready for final coat when the clear screwed up again.

What rags should I be using & what soaps to clean them? Should rags be re-used after a wax&grease or disposed of?

the rags I use are about the size of large tissues, & area of project is about a4 size.

Um. We might need more detail about what you are doing. And maybe a pic or two.

I just chuck rags away when dirty. Life is to short to clean rags.

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Originally Posted by tea lady

Um. We might need more detail about what you are doing. And maybe a pic or two.

I just chuck rags away when dirty. Life is to short to clean rags.

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Sorry I didn't bother with photos, I was too busy scraping the clear off before it dried hard.

The effect looks like small wavy ripples or maybe like giant finger prints in various spots, sometimes the defects look like blisters. And sometimes a dry spot like as if I missed it with the brush. This is all very different from the fish eyes or pinholes I have seen from contamination in rags.

The thing about the rags is I wash them 3-4 times & have done so on all other stuff without issues. I mean cleaning a rag of a little bit of wax & grease remover shouldn't be hard at all.

So just using clear varnish? Or danish oil?

A frind of mine was havign trouble cos the whole varnish layer was delamination after a couple of coats were put on. That was on a red gum table. I think there can be trouble of red gum, and some other woods are sanded to finely and won't let the finish sink in. Also sometimes ripples can happen cos the layer is to thick? Or the timber is still wet. Or the weather is to cold.

Another thing. Perhaps keep the uses of the cloths separate? Waxing cloths only for waxing etc. If you are reusing them cross contamination could be confusing the situation.

Hi,
Tea lady could be right about the weather. Varnish should not be applied below 10c or above 30c even within 24 hours, the first coats may not be drying/curing all the way through and the skin moving around on the wet layer underneath.
Regards

The fingerprinty-like stuff sounds like the layer underneath reacting with the solvents from the new layer. What are you using, how long are you waiting, what's the ambient temperature and all that sort of stuff.

Not that I've ever stuffed up a finish coat (cough cough cough cough), but I've found clear car acrylic a good foil for my somewhat impatient nature with it's quick flash off times and easy compoundability a useful finish if you have a spray gun.

And the correct way to use a rag for wax and grease removal is to pour some W&G remover onto the rag (with the container NOT touching the rag), then wipe the surface, then discard the rag, get a new rag, pour on some W&G remover etc etc etc till you've done the whole surface. My filthy (ok, just the ones used for W&G removal) rags go through the washing machine after a soak in some tricleanium (trisodium phosphate) solution (no laundry detergent, just relying on the tricleanium).

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Originally Posted by Master Splinter

The fingerprinty-like stuff sounds like the layer underneath reacting with the solvents from the new layer. What are you using, how long are you waiting, what's the ambient temperature and all that sort of stuff.

Not that I've ever stuffed up a finish coat (cough cough cough cough), but I've found clear car acrylic a good foil for my somewhat impatient nature with it's quick flash off times and easy compoundability a useful finish if you have a spray gun.

And the correct way to use a rag for wax and grease removal is to pour some W&G remover onto the rag (with the container NOT touching the rag), then wipe the surface, then discard the rag, get a new rag, pour on some W&G remover etc etc etc till you've done the whole surface. My filthy (ok, just the ones used for W&G removal) rags go through the washing machine after a soak in some tricleanium (trisodium phosphate) solution (no laundry detergent, just relying on the tricleanium).

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I'm using Cabot's clear gloss canned poly with brush on ply wood. Usually the temp is 18-22degrees C. Usually I wait a whole 24hrs between coats & in this case it was a few days. I W&G twice usually with clean rags for each wipe on & wipe off. Anyway I just spent AGES sanding the mess back & now I'll try new rags but will wait a week as I suspect the under layers are the cause as the paper gets clogged easier than normal. There are layer effects still visible when its dry even though its smooth, like looking at a quarry from a birds eye. But these do not show at all when its wet with clean water. cheers.