Expert: Eileen Cronk - 7/12/2009

Question
My table (a few years old, not antique) had to  be refinished because it had developed bumps and also the finish had worn off in several places. I sanded it with 120 using an hand sander, and applied two coats of oil based stain. The stain was shiny in some spots and dull in others, so I re-sanded with a 00 grit sanding block. The finish is still a bit uneven. My plan is to wipe stain on the lighter spots, then finish with an oil based poly. This table gets heavy wear. So, my questions are: will my re-swipe of stain take care of the uneven problems?, will it look more uniform when I apply the poly?, and how many coats with how long in between for drying time are necessary for a very heavy duty finish? Thank you so much for your help!!!!

Answer
Hi Stephanie
Nice to hear from you.
I will take your questions in order so I don't miss any.

1... will my re-swipe of stain take care of the uneven problems?,
Answer..No, the rewipe will likely only remove some of the first application. The second coat of stain usually does not do much.

2..will it look more uniform when I apply the poly?,
Answer..No, it will make the imperfections more noticable.

3.. and how many coats with how long in between for drying time are necessary for a very heavy duty finish?
Answer..Three coats of poly are all thats used. Oil based poly takes longer than water based poly to dry.
12 hours drying time for oil based, 6 hours drying time for water based is the method I use.
Hope this helps
Regards
Eileen