Minwax Wipe On Poly: Take It To The Limit #1: Overview and Disclaimer

I am in no way connected to Minwax. As a professional woodworker, I view their retail product line as not quite professional level, but quality nonetheless. I also allow that any retail product has the potential to be an effective coating to have around.

I build vertical electric basses whose bodies are, generally, cherry and alder, and are about fourteen inches wide and thirty six inches long and two inches thick. The edges have a two grooves cut with a vee-groove/flush trim bit (an homage to the violin family; purely aesthetic).

The standard for workmanship and finish in the musical instrument industry is very high. My historical explainer is that the King had the best farrier, the best horse breeder, the best blacksmith, the best armorer, and so on, but one day the Queen tapped him on the shoulder and looked him in the eye and said, “You’ve got the best of everything, but my lute sucks!” So he went out and got the best luthier. And here we are.

Far and away spraying is the best method of applying a finish to these objects. Lacquer is the industry standard: It is fast and flashy. I am not set up to spray, so I am limiting myself to hand-applied coatings. Because of the amount of real estate on my instrument, I much prefer a semigloss or even satin sheen.

I have used GF waterborne poly with good results, brushed. Drytime two hours, and 6 coats builds a nice thickness and sheen that can be flat sanded with a final coat over that. I use this product on other parts of the instrument.

But I was curious about a wipe on oil based polyurethane, so I did a comparison of Daly’s ProFin vs. Minwax, mentioned on the Finish Forum here at LJ. Minwax won that, so I took on three more bodies, Minwax only, to develop the technique, and that’s what I’ll chronicle here.

Pictures will be included in subsequent posts.

-- "...in his brain, which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd with observation, the which he vents in mangled forms." --Shakespeare, "As You Like It"