How to use polyurethane

[simso]

I dont know if this is right or wrong but its simply over time what IVe found to give me the best perfect result, I lacquer the item, sand it 240grit, lacquer it again, lightly sand it used 240 grit,and then get a poly-urethane and gently rub it on like a wax with a cloth and actually rub it in so you end up with a dry item no marks swirls ect, the end result is a bay bum smooth nil defect finish, Now this might not be the right way of doing it but Ive made book shelves, dining table, entertainment unit ect at home in my dusty shed there still as smooth as the day I did them, One of my bookcases is coming up to 7yrs old now.

SImso

[JB]

Fair enough Simso, what works works. What sort of lacquer (pre-cat and do you spray it on?) and poly do you use? I'm not wondering what brands, just what types. I'm surprised they're compatible.

[simso]

I use wattyl estapol gloss and apply it with a paintbrush, allow it 24 hrs to dry completely, then theres a couple of ways to go from here, the first is I simply apply another coat of gloss with paint brush sand 24 hrs later and then use minwax wipe on poly-urethane and rub it into the surface. The other way which gives an absolute incredible finish but takes longer, at the second step instead of paintbrushing the estapol gloss on again I rub it on, and give it three coats over 3 days and then lightly sand with 400 and then rub poly on after that. The first method gives a better finish than any shop bought piece of furntiure, but the second one your hand just glides over the surface like it was greased glass, its worth the effort on small items and stuff you want to show off. Like I said before I stumbled onto this method by trial and error, I didnt like spraying because my work area is always messy, and I pick up all sorts of crap from the air, when I hand lacquered I always ended up with highs and lows but when you sanded it back it was smooth, but apply your lacquer and its rough again. At the same time I was making our picture frames in the house and I used poly on them and liked the tough finish, I stumbled one day onto the minwax rub on poly and did my picture frames with the rub on from then on, only problem when building a surface up with rub on poly is it never gets a high enough build and always feels okay but not fantastic, I tried a test run using the two together and was astounded at how well it worked, and I would swear by it now. Dont get me wrong if youve got the perfect enviroment to spray then spray but lets be realistic most of us just do it out of our shed.
Steve

[Wood Butcher]

The other way which gives an absolute incredible finish but takes longer, at the second step instead of paintbrushing the estapol gloss on again I rub it on, and give it three coats over 3 days and then lightly sand with 400 and then rub poly on after that. Steve

I've never had much to do with high qual finishes so please ignore my stupidity. What do you mean by rub it on

[simso]

Like waxing your car where you rub it on until its dry, you use a cloth rag lightly dipped into the poly and apply to the surface in round circular motions until the surface is no longer wet but dry and your rubbing marks have disappeared its like french polishing, if you touch the surface youll leave your fingerprints because your compressing the surface but to the visible eye it looks dry, so when dust ect lands onto it later it doesnt matter because it wont stick
Steve

[echnidna]

The method simso just described gives a good looking very durable finish.
I have done this a few times and always get an excellent result.

[Harry72]

Hey simso, wattyl estipol is a polyU not a lacquer!
Thats why you dont get compatbilty problems

[simso]

Well there you go, explains why they work well together,like I said before Ive been doing all finishing by this method and even though it takes a bit more work than spraying it is truly worth the effort. I would stillrecommend the minwax wipe on poly for final coat because it gives a smooth streak finish where as the estapol doesnt it leaves when rubbed on a slight marking of the surface could be because it is a thicker compound

Steve