[DT Boss]

Hi all,
I put three coats of spar urethane on my desktop (outside, 80 degree sun) and things were looking nice and shiny. I brought it in and installed it. Then wanted to fix up a couple small dings I made in the process (and yes, I now know why spar is not ideal for desktop surfaces, but it's what I had available to me). The patch job application was done indoors, with adequate ventilation, but I just not in direct sunlight, and not 80 degrees. I got a cloudy, crappy result. Thinking that I perhaps didn't mix the spar enough, I tried again but it's no better, now just bigger! Any ideas how to fix this on my third go 'round? Thicker application perhaps? Or do I need to get it back outside and do the entire top again.

Thank you for your insight.

Dan

 

[Steve Neul]

Was the finish applied to wood or an old finish? You really should avoid using any finish in the direct sun if possible but if it was a recoat then it wouldn't matter. The problem was an adhesion problem caused by either not cleaning the desk off well enough or not scuff sanding the old finish well enough. If it was an old finish that has had furniture polish put on it then the polish should have been cleaned off with a wax and grease remover before finishing. It could even be the spar wasn't compatible with existing finish. Some catalyzed finishes are almost as bad to recoat as baked on enamel. If it was done on new wood perhaps there wasn't enough drying time with the stain. One of us would have to know step by step what was done to really guess what happened. From what I can see it looks like the next step is paint and varnish remover. It doesn't look salvageable. If the finish is pealing it will continue to peal.

 

[cabinetman]

What you're seeing is an added application of oil base on top of oil base. I would scuff sand the entire top and do it all at one time.

.

 

[DT Boss]

Yeah, I guess the best thing do to is scuff and reapply to the entire surface and never try to spot fix again. The spar I was applying was the same kind as the stuff that had just dried for 48 hours earlier. The only thing I didn't do was sand or scuff the patch I was trying to fix before applying.

Thanks much for your help.