Expert: Greg Scholl - 9/21/2009

Question
I am refinishing a piece of furniture made of oak. I didn't strip it.  I simply sanded of the existing finished to remove some paint spatters and then  wiped down the piece with stain and a thin coat of minwax fast drying polyurethane.  This is the problem.  I had filled some holes in the wood close to the area I was refinishing but not in the area I refinished.  I used wood filler on these.  I hadn't yet sanded the wood filler smooth but didn't feel it was necessary to have that done until later.  When I was brushing on the poly u (to the stained area), I occasionally brushed over the edge the wood filler.  Now, when the finish dried, it looked as if small loose particles of wood filler had gotten into the ploy u on the stained wood.  Particles of filler looked like it had emusified in the poly u and there were lots of blotchy area in the finish.  It really looked like small granules of wood filler had become suspended in the poly u and melted.  My grandmother swears this happened to her years and years ago  And my finish looks very much like the finish on her table.  I googled the problem on the internet and can find no mention of a problem with poly u and wood filler.  I stripped the poly u off.  I sanded the neighboring wood filler area and want to reapply the poly u.  How should I prepare the area as not to miss a minute piece of wood filler in the finish?  OR, was that not my problem.  I wish I would have taken  pics of the final finish.  Thank you for any help you can give.

Answer
Hi Terry, how much filler did you apply? If it was just small holes, then it's doubtful that there would be enough to muck up the finish. It is definitely possible that some could have gotten in to the finish, but typically once dry the filler shouldn't dissolve with the poly because the filler is probably latex based and the poly is oil based. The problem I readily see is that you put stain over a finish, without removing the finish, and that finish was likely lacquer, which you can't poly over. This is a big no-no, especially with consumer stains like Minwax. You must only stain clean, bare wood, free of ALL old finish, and sanding down an old finish does NOT properly prep the piece for staining. The old finish must be stripped off with stripper, or it will not be removed at the pore level of the surface, and ANY old traces of finish will cause problems with the refinish, and often a stain will not dry at all when used like this. Strip the entire piece, do the filling and sanding right up to the final grit, then stain the piece, spot stain the filler to match, and then proceed with the clear coats after thorough drying of the stain.This is the typical route to do such a refinish. What you attempted to do is possible, but only with different type of stain,and the knowledge and experience to know what the old finish was,( which must be used over it), and the proper way to proceed... this really isn't a technique I cold teach in a forum like this, and takes experience, access and knowledge of the right materials, and skill to do correctly.Hope that helps a little- post back if need be- Greg