After refinishing my desk 5 times since last August (this is the first anything I've refinished), and making 6 threads about issues I encountered, I've got it done .
The first 3 or 4 finishes were with MinWax satin polyurethane. I kept having issue with visible swirls and streaks on specifically the last coat, despite diluting the finish 1:2 mineral spirits. My guess is that the satin particulate was building up through the layers and then visible in the final layer. I've read people will sometimes do their first couple of coats with a gloss finish to avoid this. When working with the polyurethane, I also had an issue with it not going into the wood pores, and so leaving lots of very-conpicuous holes in the finish.
The last two finish attempts I did used Rubio Monocoat. The first attempt was almost all good, but there were some hardened finish beads the day after applying the finish. And hand-sanding them down left lots of scratches in the finish, which were visible through the second coat of RM I applied. So, I sanded the desk top down again and started over.
The second attempt with RM almost went the same way. Despite wiping excess finish away excessively, and then some, to try to preempt any bits of protruding hardened finish residue, there were some in the dried result. This time I let the finish cure four days before sanding those bits, hoping it would prevent scratches from appearing. It didn't, and I had the same issue with scratches as shown in this thread about my first RM finishing attempt. I'm not sure, but I think the RM can be prone to sticking up on edges of wood pores on my desk, as that seemed to be where they appeared, even though I'd made sure to go over the whole desk thoroughly before leaving it to dry.
For the second RM attempt, I hand-sanded first using a maroon pad, as lightly as is possible short of holding the pad by one corner and dragging it across the desk surface. But that still left scratches in the wood, like this one in the centre of the image.
![Image]()
I then tried removing those scratches with worn-down 220 grit paper, but that made a lot more scratches, like those shown in the other thread I linked to. My conclusion is that any hand-sanding of Rubio Monocoat is going to leave scratches.
I thought I'd ruined the finish again, and would probably have sanded the desk down again and again, until the sander went through the desktop and I had to throw the desk away. But I was watching some videos hoping to find a way to repair the scratches, when I noticed this mentioned in this video:
Timestamped at 4:14
He says Rubio told him to use a maroon scuff pad on his ROS, and sand the surface until it's evenly got a frosted look to it. So, I stuck a maroon pad on my ROS, and it got the scratches out and made the desk surface look good and frosted. I then cleaned it by wiping and applied the second coat, and it seems to have worked out pretty well. It's been curing for a few days now.
I've noticed that the maroon pad on the ROS left scuffs across the desk of its own, but they aren't visible unless I'm shining light on the desk and looking at it from a very particular angle. Because of that, I might accept it as it is. However, I later came across this video, in which they use 320 grit on their ROS between RM coats. I expect that wouldn't leave any scuffs marks at all, and I'm tempted to order more RM to do it with 320 grit.
Timestamped at 2:23
Here are examples of the maroon pad + ROS scuff marks, which are only visible under very-particular lighting and angles, next to how those spots looks normally.
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
One more thing... when I applied the second coat, it was pretty dusty in my garage, as I'd been sanding the desk in there that day, first by hand, and then with the maroon pad on the ROS. I had mixed the Rubio Monocoat with the accelerator many hours ago, before I started any sanding, and hadn't foreseen the escalating mess that was about to happen when I did. And that was the last RM I had, so I either had to apply it or toss it and order more RM and delay finishing the project. I waited as long as I thought I could (RM is supposed to be used within around 5 hours of mixing it) for the dust to settle a bit, and then chose to apply it. But I kept wiping the desk for a very long time after I did, to prevent dust from having a chance to settle while the finish was doing its initial drying. I also came back every hour or so after that to wipe it again, in case any dust was trying to settle in the drying finish. It's really true that you can't wipe off too much RM after applying it.
I don't know if all the wiping I did while the RM was drying had an effect on the smoothness of the finish, but the dried desk top feels very smooth, and I'm pretty sure it feels smoother than after the first finishing attempt I did with RM, and than after my second RM finishing attempt's first coat. The ROS with maroon pad on the first coat of RM might also have made it smoother. But it does feel very smooth and glassy.
Now I either bring the desk inside and use it as is, or I order more RM and sand it with 320, to try to remove those maroon scuff marks. I'm on the fence about it.
The first 3 or 4 finishes were with MinWax satin polyurethane. I kept having issue with visible swirls and streaks on specifically the last coat, despite diluting the finish 1:2 mineral spirits. My guess is that the satin particulate was building up through the layers and then visible in the final layer. I've read people will sometimes do their first couple of coats with a gloss finish to avoid this. When working with the polyurethane, I also had an issue with it not going into the wood pores, and so leaving lots of very-conpicuous holes in the finish.
The last two finish attempts I did used Rubio Monocoat. The first attempt was almost all good, but there were some hardened finish beads the day after applying the finish. And hand-sanding them down left lots of scratches in the finish, which were visible through the second coat of RM I applied. So, I sanded the desk top down again and started over.
The second attempt with RM almost went the same way. Despite wiping excess finish away excessively, and then some, to try to preempt any bits of protruding hardened finish residue, there were some in the dried result. This time I let the finish cure four days before sanding those bits, hoping it would prevent scratches from appearing. It didn't, and I had the same issue with scratches as shown in this thread about my first RM finishing attempt. I'm not sure, but I think the RM can be prone to sticking up on edges of wood pores on my desk, as that seemed to be where they appeared, even though I'd made sure to go over the whole desk thoroughly before leaving it to dry.
For the second RM attempt, I hand-sanded first using a maroon pad, as lightly as is possible short of holding the pad by one corner and dragging it across the desk surface. But that still left scratches in the wood, like this one in the centre of the image.
I then tried removing those scratches with worn-down 220 grit paper, but that made a lot more scratches, like those shown in the other thread I linked to. My conclusion is that any hand-sanding of Rubio Monocoat is going to leave scratches.
I thought I'd ruined the finish again, and would probably have sanded the desk down again and again, until the sander went through the desktop and I had to throw the desk away. But I was watching some videos hoping to find a way to repair the scratches, when I noticed this mentioned in this video:
Timestamped at 4:14
He says Rubio told him to use a maroon scuff pad on his ROS, and sand the surface until it's evenly got a frosted look to it. So, I stuck a maroon pad on my ROS, and it got the scratches out and made the desk surface look good and frosted. I then cleaned it by wiping and applied the second coat, and it seems to have worked out pretty well. It's been curing for a few days now.
I've noticed that the maroon pad on the ROS left scuffs across the desk of its own, but they aren't visible unless I'm shining light on the desk and looking at it from a very particular angle. Because of that, I might accept it as it is. However, I later came across this video, in which they use 320 grit on their ROS between RM coats. I expect that wouldn't leave any scuffs marks at all, and I'm tempted to order more RM to do it with 320 grit.
Timestamped at 2:23
Here are examples of the maroon pad + ROS scuff marks, which are only visible under very-particular lighting and angles, next to how those spots looks normally.
One more thing... when I applied the second coat, it was pretty dusty in my garage, as I'd been sanding the desk in there that day, first by hand, and then with the maroon pad on the ROS. I had mixed the Rubio Monocoat with the accelerator many hours ago, before I started any sanding, and hadn't foreseen the escalating mess that was about to happen when I did. And that was the last RM I had, so I either had to apply it or toss it and order more RM and delay finishing the project. I waited as long as I thought I could (RM is supposed to be used within around 5 hours of mixing it) for the dust to settle a bit, and then chose to apply it. But I kept wiping the desk for a very long time after I did, to prevent dust from having a chance to settle while the finish was doing its initial drying. I also came back every hour or so after that to wipe it again, in case any dust was trying to settle in the drying finish. It's really true that you can't wipe off too much RM after applying it.
I don't know if all the wiping I did while the RM was drying had an effect on the smoothness of the finish, but the dried desk top feels very smooth, and I'm pretty sure it feels smoother than after the first finishing attempt I did with RM, and than after my second RM finishing attempt's first coat. The ROS with maroon pad on the first coat of RM might also have made it smoother. But it does feel very smooth and glassy.
Now I either bring the desk inside and use it as is, or I order more RM and sand it with 320, to try to remove those maroon scuff marks. I'm on the fence about it.
