Hi. I've been experimenting with different polyurethanes for my butcher
block counter tops and it looks like I'm settling on a Sherwin Williams
clear poly. I want a pretty high shine, but not the tacky gloss feel and
uneven "liquid" look. My understanding was that I should sand the final
coat with maybe a 400 or even as low as a 220 grit, and then go up to 600
and higher depending on what kind of finish I would like. Tonight I decided
to try wet sanding with 2000 grit on the clear gloss poly right off the bat
instead of going through the paces of higher and higher grits (this is on a
test piece). It looks to me like it does fine. I have a nice smooth finish
that has a little less gloss but is smooth to the touch and I don't see any
imperfections. Am I missing something on my final 2000 grit finish by doing
things this way? Might it be a better finish by going something like
400/600/1500/2000?

I sanded with 2000 on one half and left the other half of the sample with
the high gloss "tacky" feel. When I put a wet towel down to clean off the
sanding dust I noticed that the water beaded up on the untouched poly while
it layed down on the sanded part. I can understand why this might be, I
suppose, with the micro abrasions on the sanded side, but I wonder if it has
any impact on the resistance the finish has to liquids. After all, I'm
doing all this in order to protect the wood from occasional spills.

Any comments or ideas are appreciated.

dwhite