Finishing Help

Boomer – have you tried buffing out the drips/runs with 0000 steel wool? Buff it out then reapply another coat—- a very light coat with a rag, not a brush, and build up from there. That one step stuff can be a bear to work with. Hope this helps. I’m sure others will have more advise.

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

Betsy
I havent touched it other than to try adding a coat to see what that would do. I normally do not or even would not use this one step stuff, but we are having an open house next weekend and it really needs to look at least presentable!

I never used it before, and it does not look good to use it again! Thanks Ma’am!

-- Boomer - The finer things smell of cedar!

Try the steel wool—- It should go pretty quickly. Clean up the dust with mineral spirits then apply your stain again with a rag and go lightly. It should turn out respectably. That should be a quick fix. If all else fails—- if the trim is at the top of your barrier—- go to Garden Ridge and buy ivy to decoratively dress up the barrier. No one will notice the trim – they’ll just think you are really a good decorator. :-)

Good luck!

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

The one step products are really a two step product.

Step 1: Apply the product.
Step 2: Rip out the piece and start over.

I have never seen a short cut that looks very good when it comes to finishing. Sorry, just my opinion.

-- Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit.

The One Step Product – as I found out – is like the Money Pit. It worked great for the panel portions of the wall itself, but not having made a test run with this particular type of finish, I didnt know how badly it would run. The steel wool trick was able to work out some of it, but it looks like I might be buying some new strips and starting over. At least this wasnt the hope chest that I am planning on next. And, it does give me some testing things to work out before I get into a real project, so it was more of a learning experience!

I guess I forgot the old adage: Measure twice – cut once!

-- Boomer - The finer things smell of cedar!

I was trying to refinish an oak vanity using minwax polyshades. I assume this is very similar. The reason I did this, was because after all my work sanding the old finish off, the wood was still sealed and wouldn’t take a stain. I thought this might be my solution. He is what I noticed.

1) The side panel – I thought this was plywood. Apparently it was just some kind of papercovered material (thin MDF?). Either way, when I sanded it, the grain went away and it looked like splotchy paper. This side is almost imposible to see from the center of the room, so I applied the finish anyway. It came out pretty good I think. the brush strokes give the illusion of grain

2) the rails/stiles – I think I had a very similar experience as you. Lots of frips and runs. I really tried to stick with light coats, but it just didn’t want to work. I went with a similar approach as Betsy suggested but I used very fine sandpaper. It doesn’t look great, but doesn’t look terrible either. Furtunately most of the fram isn’t too visible.

3) Doors and drawer fronts – This actually came out pretty good. I removed these for the finishing and had them laying flat when I applied the finish. It came out pretty nicely (although I had some unevenness). I was actually able to come back with a $0.10 watercolor brush though to fill in the lighter streaks and I think this helped. No runs or drips though.

I think this stuff can work ok if you can lay the material flat. That isn’t ussually an option though. I also wouldn’t have paid for cabinets with a finish that looked like this, but I did save a lot of money compared to buying or building new ones. I don’t think I’m really helping you with your project, but maybe this can help someone elsae debating whether to use the product.

Actually, HokieM some of your post does help, although not necessarily with this project, but the cabinets that we currently have in the kitchen.

Unfortunately, the One Step material presents some challenges that I was not really aware of, and that is a consistent smooth finish. IMHO, it is still easier to use the regular, more time consuming two step stain first THEN finish with the urethane or other varnish to bring out the sheen. For this particular application, it worked well on the panels I selected, but using it on finish pieces is another matter, in part, because it does not absorb the stain in the manner that a normal wood stain might be absorbed.

Its funny to remember the old projects I did many years ago. I helped my parents with some molding staining many years ago, and it didnt take me nearly the effort that the One Step has. In this case, my Open House is next weekend so I have time to recover. Sometimes, however, its amazing how those lessons from years ago never seem to come back until you pull a dunce kind of move like this.

-- Boomer - The finer things smell of cedar!