Horrible Messy Glasscoat (un)Finish!

[gunsmoke]

My husband has just finished building a new outdoor kitchen, the highlight was supposed to be the natural redgum bench tops. Mark finished the redgum with a product from Bunnings "Glasscoat", he has used it before with good results. However this time the finish is terrible. The coating hasn't taken in some bits, the sides look drippy & messy. Trust me the redgum was sealed, cleaned & not touched with oily fingers - and still this horrble mess.
My question: Can we have the benchtops dipped to remove the glasscoat? Will this damage the Redgum? Is there an easier product out there that will give the 'glass' type finish? Or can you recommend another finish that would be better? Biggest concern is removing this messy finish first, hubby very diappointed & discouraged ....

[RufflyRustic]

that must be heartbreaking Commisserations!

I've not used the Glass Coat so can't even begin to comment on a fix re dipping. Can you sand/scrape glass coat off?

Any chance of contacting the Manufacturer of Glass Coat?

[dai sensei]

There are alternatives to Glasscoat, Envirotech is one, but there are others. When did you do it, was it too cold, as there are temperature and humidity limits for this type of stuff (but similar for all). They also have a shelf life.

I have had no problems with either, but have always used them in hot weather. If it is temp, perhaps you could heat it with a blow torch to help things along.

As for getting rid of it, not sure, hopefully someone else can help.

Cheers

[Edwin]

I've recently had a similar disaster with West System over the weekend. Got a great old laminated jarrah kitchen benchtop for cheap, sanded the old finish off it with 40 grit, then up through the grits to 240. I wanted the hardest finish I could get for this kitchen bench, so I finished it with 1L of West System 205, standard hardener, using those little disposable foam brushes you get from Bunnings.

The finish is gorgeous in most places.... but absolutely ruined by a few areas where it seems to have been repelled from the timber, as if from detergent. Could it be because of remnants of the previous finish , or perhaps from the glue used in the joints? It does seem to be worse around the joints.

As for removing it, I suspect the only way is going to be a very long slog with the old 40 grit.

Sticking with good ol' polyurethane from now on.

[jchappo]

As for removing it, I suspect the only way is going to be a very long slog with the old 40 grit.

Have you considered a flap disc on an angle grinder? Bunnings have them in various grits (40 to 120 I think)

[Edwin]

I was thinking belt sander... never considered a flap sander. Would they be any faster?

EDIT - Also, regarding the ambient temperature during cure, it was pretty cold outside but I had the fireplace going so it was quite comfortable in where I was doing the work. However I still had about 30min of pot time, but the destructions said it would only get 12-15 min at 21 degrees. Not sure if that means anything other than it was a bit colder than 21 degrees.

[gunsmoke]

We moved the piece inside to finish it - had the heater set to an nice 23*, had plenty of working time to get out all the air bubbles, looked good an hour later - but by next morning the edges were streaky and the finish ruined! Will not use Glasscoat again!
Thanks for your suggestions - always looking for the easy solution, dipping the wood would require way less elbow grease!