# Has anyone applied Arm-R-Seal on top of Waterlox?



## marc_rosen (Sep 9, 2009)

Hey Gang,
Today I scratched my cherry dining room table top while being careless. It was finished 5 years ago using Waterlox. I've since been using Arm-R-Seal for the majority of my finishing and wanted to know if anyone here has applied A-R-S on top of Waterlox. Any chance I will see something undesirable? 
All replies are welcome and thanks in advance.
Marc


----------



## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

If in doubt use a coat of 1 lb cut of dewaxed shellac it makes any two finishes work together when put in between .


----------



## TungOil (Jan 16, 2017)

why not just repair the Waterlox? One of the benefits of Waterlox is repairability. sand the scratch out with 320 and recoat.


----------



## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

> why not just repair the Waterlox? One of the benefits of Waterlox is repairability. sand the scratch out with 320 and recoat.
> 
> - TungOil


+1


----------



## CharlesNeil (Oct 21, 2007)

Compatibility wont be an issue, however ,Waterlox does yellow pretty bad, my concern is if you sand the scratch out and use Arm R Seal your going to see a color difference, . If it were me I would try dribbling some water lox into just the scratch to build it up. I am assuming here that the scratch isnt deep , but just a finish issue .
Once level then clean and light scuff the top and do a full coat of finish.


----------



## jdmaher (May 4, 2011)

Arm-R-Seal over shellac over Waterlox is pretty much my "standard" finish.

When I started doing this, I had a ton of Waterlox (or, at least a couple of gallons) because we'd used it on our floor. I was worried about compatibility, as well, and decided on a wash-coat of shellac (1 lb) before the Arm-R-Seal. It probably doesn't matter, but it has become standard for me.

On wood that is ACTUALLY blotchy, I start with a very skimpy wash coat of shellac (about 0.5 lb). Then Waterlox, to pop the grain - which ALWAYS works. Then I use a 1 lb. shellac to tweak color (and seal, though I'm not convinced that's necessary). Then the Arm-R-Seal.

HOWEVER, do what Charles said: fill the scratch with Waterlox before applying Arm-R-Seal (if desired). Waterlox definitely DOES yellow.

That is, I wouldn't just fill the scratch with Arm-R-Seal, because that's what I had on-hand.

Are you adding a coat of Arm-R-Seal to the whole piece to improve finish durability? I'm sure Arm-R-Seal will do that, but one scratch in 5 years doesn't seem too bad.


----------



## bobasaurus (Sep 6, 2009)

I've used arm-r-seal directly over waterlox, no problems at all. In the future, I plan on just using straight arm-r-seal.


----------

