In article ,
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MikeG wrote:
You would have been better off filling the with a filler or
several coats of thinned and sanded back coats of your finish. Now
you don't have much choice but to plow forward adding coats.

Yeah, I realize that now. The "texture" of the grain doesn't bother me
as long as the wood is protected and the grain doesn't collect too much
spilled milk and other gunk.

The only real way you are going to accomplish the task without
adding three, four, five, or six more coats is to sand what you
have now all the way down to where it is flat, note, not to the
wood, just so it is level, and add another coat or two on the
sanded flat surface.

Can't. It's quarter-sawn oak with a very "open" grain. Some of the
"pits" in the grain are lower than the surface of the wood.

I dunno if another 3 or more coats will actually "fill in" the grain,
but maybe it will help?

I'm more concerned about the durability of the water-based. Unless it
hardens as it cures, this will never work out. I can easily
dent/scratch it with a fingernail.

I don't suppose it's possible to put solvent-based poly on top of
water-based poly? :-(

Gary

Hi Gary

Of course the pits are lower then the wood, that's oaks job.

Lets look at it this way. Suppose you dug a six foot hole in your back
yard and the powers that be didn't like it and told you to get rid of
it.

Now, you decide to get rid of it by, rather then just filling it in,
putting layers of fill over the whole back yard. Yes, I know, of course
you wouldn't actually do that but bear with me.

Ok, after about the fifteenth load of fill when half the back door is
covered you find the hole is filling up. You've only got three more feet
to fill. Kind of like where you are now.

So, where do you go from there. You scrape off all the layers down the
three feet and the yard is level. Not all the way back to the original
level, just till you reach the level the hole is filled too.

If you have multiple layers of finish on now you should be able to
"scrape" that back to a level where all is flat and without hitting the
wood. If you're not comfortable with that do a couple of more layers
then sand it back. Do not expect large pores to be filled anytime soon
by just adding more coats.

As for the strength of the poly. It'll take weeks before it cures fully,
oil takes even longer. It'll help if you give each coat twice as long to
cure as recommended before adding the next. Also, depending where you
live of course, environmental factors can effect curing time. 50
degrees, which it is here right now, is not the ideal temperature for
finishes. Finishes like about seventy.

--
MikeG
Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net