I'm refinishing the top of our antique dining table. I scraped it down to wood then sanded. The first coat of minwax fast dry poly pretty much soaked right in. I gave it a light scuff with 400 and the second coat sort of soaked in on some spots and coated in others. I scuffed lightly with the 400 again and the third coat is where my problem is arising. When I brush it on it comes off the brush evenly and then it starts to seperate into streaks. It is kind of behaving like water on a freshly waxed car. After I got the whole top coatedI went back over it without adding any poly to the brush to try to flatten it out. It would flatten but then seperate into streaks again. My thoughts are that I didn't sand enough between coats. I think that due to the "water on wax" comment. But that is just a guess. Anybody have any ideas or advice?
I think you're going to have to start over. Sand down with 120 to bare wood, then 180 to prep for stain and then poly. This is also why I always use a wiping poly (or similar to poly) so it's more likely to level and not leave streaks. "fast dry" seems like the opposite of what you want.
My crummy experience tells me you need to use the sealer product first so the stain soaks in evenly.
A sealer will help, sometimes at the expense of durability. The fact that the poly gets to soak in to unsealed wood means its STUCK.
Is it streaking on its own? As in... not because the brush left brush marks? As long as it's not discoloring, I think you're fine. Fast-dry poly uses more volatile solvents so they get out of the way quicker and let the poly start binding faster.
I would switch it up at this point. You have some good coats of poly, so I would scuff again and make your own wipe-on. I do mine one of two ways - either equal parts poly and thinner, or sometimes I go equal parts poly, thinner, and tung oil. The first formula tends to be a little stronger when cured (less likely to scratch) but it will not build as quickly so you may need 3-4 additional wipe-on coats. The three-part recipe builds a little faster as it builds quicker, but will be ever so slightly softer after a cure. Both are impervious to water, and the lovely thing is that you can keep a little jar of it and every few years you can scuff and buff in a new coat of poly to cover any scratches
The next morning after making my original post I took a closer look at the table. What I realized is that each bare spot that appears coincided with a grain in the wood. So what I thought was the finish beading up on the surface was actually the poly being sucked into the wood. I've put two more coats on since the original post. With each coat the problem has still existed, but is reduced greatly. What started as the entire top was badly streaked with bare spots, I now just have a few small spots. I think tonight I may use an eye dropper and "hand feed" the remaining bare spots until they stop taking the finish. Then one final sand and topcoat and it should be good to go.
