Chiz,

I just finished a maple tabletop for one of my SILs using wipe-on-poly. It
went on great, sanded between coats as per the instructions and applied 4
applications. Only problem was - I wanted a satin finish and it was glossy
but that's a story for another post. Some tips that may help:

1. Use a lint free cotton cloth and despite what you may think - that is not
an old T-shirt. Go to the auto store or borg and purchase some cheese
cloth. That really works well. Make a pad from about and 8" square piece of
cloth folded up. Saturate the cloth, rub on the poly.

2. Between applications, put the cheese cloth pad in an air tight baggy.
Roll all the air out then zip it shut and it will be ready for the next
application.

3. If you want a satin finish but still want the grain to show thru, you
should make the first several coats glossy - then finish up with a coat or
two of satin. Satin will hide the grain (considerably).

4. While applying the poly avoid the temptation to go back over an area you
just did - even though you missed a spot. After about 15 seconds, the poly
starts to setup already and if you go back over it - you will just smudge
it. Best to leave it alone, lightly sand after its dry and recoat. Wipe-on
poly goes on very thin and you build up a layer at a time leveling it out by
sanding between coats.

5. To get back to my tabletop, I ended up with a gloss finish because the
can I got evidently went thru a freeze/thaw cycle according to Minwax and
the flattners in the poly were ruined. At any rate, I bought a can of the
Spray-on satin poly and applied that as the final two coats. Came out
great. A little rub down with some 0000 steel wool and its good to go.

6. If using the satin sheen, be sure to follow the instructions about
shaking the can or stirring the poly before and during use to insure the
flatteners are mixed in properly.

Poly makes sense for certain items, such as a breakfast table, but padding
on shellac is about the same process if you want a non-plastic look.

Bob S.
"C & M" wrote in message
...
I'd like to hear some opinions on wipe-ons. I haven't been happy with the
standard fare of brush on poly. Yea, I'm nearly a rank amateur and I also
don't see me being able to sufficiently clean the shop to do a spray
finish.
I bought one of the Harbor Freight HVLP spray guns (yea, a misnomer
without
a doubt based on the expense of the real thing in Woodcraft stores) but I
haven't even tried it yet. Any comments beyond, "You're a putz", would be
greatly appreciated.
Later,
Chiz