Minwax Gloss Poly over Seal Coat

I don’t have a quick answer, Bill, but I suspect the accumulated wisdom here will help you out.

When I think of raised grain, I think of roughness caused by small hairlike fibers of the wood popping off the surface due to the addition of some kind of liquid.

My first question is, how did you clean the wood after sanding the SealCoat? Could that residue be what is showing up on the surface?

Is “Cascade Mountain Range” hyperbole, or is the surface really that bad? Maybe you could describe the surface in more detail for us.

Over the net to your court…

Kindly,

Lee

-- "...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"

The only thing that comes to my mind is your moisture content is too high in the wood. Now that you are sanding it down to almost bare wood, I’d leave it a couple days and see if you get some grain raise. That would be a sure sign the surface of the wood is still drying as alternate grain patterns should rise a little as it dries.
The other reason I say this, the poly would not penetrate the higher moisture areas as much, since the pores are filled with moisture, so when you sanded, you got your “mountain ranges”, which I bet sort of follow the grain. Need to lower the moisture percentage is my bet.

-- Paul, Tennessee, http://www.tsunamiguitars.com

Lee,
It was quite rough, it felt like little hills and valleys. Mostly where the grain was smooth to where it was more porous. I would say the porous areas were the valleys and the smooth parts were the hills.
I normally blow off the dust than wipe it with mineral spirits I could have missed that step but pretty sure I didn’t.

TN,
I guess I didn’t think of the moisture content really due to the fact that I got the wood close by and I didn’t think it would make much of a difference. I have never run into this problem before. But I rarely use Oak, don’t like it much. Now that I look closer at the wood I see some black spots showing up in the pours of the grain, maybe some mold. Our Humidity in the area fluctuates between about 15% to 70% throughout the day. I might just be fighting a losing battle here. I will have to invest in a Moisture meter, I had one some time back but it broke.

I am going sand it down to the wood and let it sit til I can get a meter. I don’t plan on using the sanding sealer again, maybe some oil then the poly. I just wasn’t sure if the sealer than the poly could have caused me some issues,

Thank you both for your replies.

-- Bill - "Freedon flies in your heart like an Eagle" Audie Murphy

1. Get back to bare wood by stripping or sanding.
2. Sand to 180.
3. Apply a coat of waterborne floor poly (preferably Varathane)
4. Knock down any fuzz with 220 drywall sanding screen
5. Apply two or three full wet coats with intermediate sanding with maroon Scotchbrite
6. Rub out the top coat with auto polishing compound

-- Clint Searl.............We deserve what we tolerate

I wil give it a try. Sounds like a good idea. Thanks for the input.

-- Bill - "Freedon flies in your heart like an Eagle" Audie Murphy

Bill – You have received alot of great tips, so mine will sound somewhat repetitive. The phrase “The smoother the wood, the smoother the finish” rings true. Dust left in the pores can also lead to a rough finish. Grain raising caused by a water-based stain or finish can be reduced by first applying a coat of Wood Conditioner to the bare wood, letting it dry, then sanding off the ‘fuzz.’ Any minor grain raising caused by the water-based finish can be eliminated by sanding between coats with #220-grit sandpaper, then wet-sanding the last coat with #600-grit dipped in lemon oil. I hope this helps. – Bruce Johnson (Minwax spokesperson)

I can’t imagine that Seal Coat was a problem, but then….......
Bill

-- bill@magraphics.us

Thanks all for your input. I ended up sanding it to bare wood and then wiped down with mineral spirits. After that I wiped with a wet towel to raise as much of the grain as possible. I let it dry and than sanded to 800 grit. I then cleaned with mineral spirits again and put four coats of water based Poly on. Used a little turtle wax polishing compound and it came out great. Sorry, but not the best picture.

-- Bill - "Freedon flies in your heart like an Eagle" Audie Murphy