You don't say what kinds of wood you are typically finishing; but, a
pre-stain conditioner isn't usually needed for most hardwoods. And, a light
sanding between the stain and the first coat of poly might get you off to a
little smoother start on some woods. You probably don't have to wait for 24
hours drying time before scuffing a poly finish coat - the stuff usually
dries in about 12 hours with reasonable drying conditions - but 24 hours
won't hurt anything either. Otherwise, your technique sounds pretty good.
If you are using a satin or semi-gloss finish - not looking for a high gloss
finish - there should be nothing wrong with a light sanding before your
final wax coat. Are you unhappy with your results? If not, why change?

If you do switch to a water based finish system, you do not want to use
steel wool for smoothing between finish coats. Any leftover pieces of steel
wool can rust between coats and cause spotting in your finish.
Jim Seelye

wrote in message
...


I have some furniture I'm doing for myself and wonder if my technique
for finishing needs improving somewhere.

The steps I usually follow:

1. Sand using around 150
2. Apply stain conditioner
3. Apply stain
4. Check color if I want to go a little darker apply some more stain
5. Let dry. At least 24 hours
6. Apply first coat of Poly, this is usually the poly that is offered
by minwax in the brown/yellow container
7. 24 hours sand with 00 steel wool
8. repeat 6 and 7 3 times, I usually try for 3-4 coats of poly with
sanding inbetween.
9. apply Minwax wax


Now what I am wondering is should I do a final sanding inbetween the
last coat and the wax?

I'm switching to water based stain for these things just to see if
there is any difference and finish them with the poly from Minwax in
the blue/silver can. Satin finish. I usually do semi-gloss.

Any recommendations/suggestions?