NorseWagon

Why don't ya guys use marine varnish..?
First and last coat thinned with 10 coats in between.

Gives a deep shine and probably better than the stain/clear coat combo.

ps2cho

Because I am a clueless woodsman and a noob ...but I do like pity points!

ocpanther

Thats where I got the idea ... I was looking at marine wood. No one can refinish wood and protect from the sun like the wood on a boat. This was my test piece. I was trying out all the different things to see how it worked out. I have three more that I wll try to get the right color and do them better. All though I think this didn't turn out too bad overall ... I really scarred the vener with the steel wool i used to brush the stripper/old clear off with.

Biggest tip of this whole process ...

DO NOT EVER GO AGAINST THE GRAIN FOR ANY REASON.

I didn't notice the marks it made until after the clear was on a few coats thick.

The second tip ... use a sealer (as someone else mentioned) after the stain.

ps2cho

I'm up to 15 coats in pics. Have not sanded yet. Will sand at the end.




I praise you for the pics that swayed me to try again using the spray lacquer!

ocpanther

That looks great!! I am glad you tried again. I will tell you ... the sanding can go through really fast if you work it too hard and if you heat up the paper it will clog with a sticky muck, but if you go slow and even it comes out really smooth.

ps2cho

Yeh that is the reason why I want to get 50+ coats on before I sand it. I learned that it sanded through quickly the first time LOL. It was just a nightmare...It took forever for the wipe on to dry so it took days for me to get even 10 coats on. Then I'd sand it because it was so drastically uneven especially around the thin sections between the buttons and it would sand through some parts and not others