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You are here: Experts > Hobbies > Woodworking > Cabinets, Furniture, Woodworks > Varnished and sanded a black table and now it is grey. Help!
Cabinets, Furniture, Woodworks - Varnished and sanded a black table and now it is grey. Help!
Expert: Eileen Cronk - 10/30/2009
Question
QUESTION: I sanded my table, primed, put on several coats of black paint and sanded between coats, I put on 4 coats of varnish and sanded between. When done I used 320 grit paper for the final sanding to get rid of brush marks. The table is smooth but the raised part of the wood grain is grey. The lower parts of the wood grain is black. I used Minwax polycrilic in a satin finish. I want the whole table to be black and smooth. What do I do?
ANSWER: Hi Heather
Nice to hear from you.
Oh my goodness you are in a mess.
First off you have far too many coats of poly over the paint. One is sufficient.
You also have too many coats of black paint. Two is sufficient.
Second, paint applied with the correct brush in the correct conditions should not have brush marks. It sounds to me like the primer is the culprit if its showing grey after sanding.
I really feel it cannot be the wood grain showing. The wood grain would have to be raised in order for this to happen but you say you sanded the table before applying primer.
Heather I am afraid the news is not good.
All these coats need to be removed with stripper.
It would be a huge job to sand this off...really messy too. Use stripper.
Then two coats of black paint and one clear coat. Make sure the products are compatable.
That means water based clear coat over water based paint or oil based clear coat over oil based paint.
And ask at the hardware for the correct brush for water based or oil based products. There is a big difference.
And don't apply paint or clear coat in a cold room as it cannot flow properly. This causes brush marks.
Also if the room is too warm the paint dries too fast and does not flow.
Great question.
And don't let this discourage you. Its just a mistake and we learn from mistakes.
Kind Regards
Eileen
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thank you for responding. I did sand the table first but I did not sand down the wood grain. I don't believe the grey is the primer as it goes black when I put on the varnish. I keep reading that the last thing you should do is sand the last coat of varnish and leave it. That isn't working for me. I put on another coat of varnish and there is no grey and I did it so carefully I don't have brush marks. I'm leaving it alone! The varnish can said to put at least 3 coats on and as I have 3 young boys in the house and this is a kitchen table I thought I needed 4. Thank you so much for responding. I really appreciate it.
Answer
Hi again Heather
You have been misinformed about sanding the last coat of varnish and leaving it like that.
Now I know why you are getting the grey look.
What you are doing is deglazing the varnish. The grey disappears when you apply more varnish as you say but returns upon sanding. So I agree with you..leave it alone.
Heather you must understand something. Yes your can of varnish says apply three coats. That means over bare wood.
You applied primer (1 Coat)then several coats of black (3 coats?), then 4 coats varnish.
Thats 8 coats of paint/ varnish.
All you want at the most is 4. Thats one primer, two black and one varnish.
So at this point you have applied another coat of varnish which makes 9 coats in total on your table top. Hopefully it does not chip off but you have gone to so much work to this point that it would be a shame to strip.
So let it be and see what happens.
Kind Regards
Eileen
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