Polishing acrylic pu varnish?

[baldkev]

Hi, hoping for some advice regarding polishing up an acrylic pu varnish, like the sadolin extra durable pu.


Ive got a job coming up shortly for a small oak worktop in a glamping pod type setting. The customer is after water resistant, without changing the colour of the oak ( or as much as possible to limit it )
They also want it to really ping, so a deep shine.
The pic attached is a tabletop i made a couple of years back, i sanded through the grits, wet, going to 3k and then i waxed it.

So my question is, if i prep the top, sanding it maybe 400 ( after raising the grain with water before hand a couple of times ) and then apply a coat of acrylic sadolin, knock it back with 600, next coat, 800, next coat 1k, then final coat and sand it through to 3k grit, do you think I'll end up with that kind of shine?
I can of course add polishing compounds to finish.

Anything ive missed? Maybe its better to build up coats and then flatten back before a last coat?

Have you tried this?

Thank you, kev

 

[paulrbarnard]

Probably work fine but you might want to consider an epoxy flood finish

 

[MF1000]

For the level of resistance asked for and the high gloss finish (horrible tacky ‘footballers wives’ …USA reality show driven) a thick resin coat buffed to an inch of its life, sadly is the only way to go imho.

Of course when you quote them for the 10’s of hrs required, reality may return

 

[niall Y]

I'm sure you can deliver to the customers brief - though what it will look like by next season is another matter.
My son and a colleague worked for a customer, building furniture for, and maintaining, glamping pods. There is a lot more attrition to the contents of the pods owing to damp conditions, and, things not being treated as well as they would in a home environment.

 

[baldkev]

I'm sure you can deliver to the customers brief - though what it will look like by next season is another matter.

Yes, i was thinking the temperature changes will be quite stark.

Probably work fine but you might want to consider an epoxy flood finish

Thanks for the suggestions, i do actually have some epoxy at the workshop, but its not epodex etc, its a cheaper brand ( epoxy harditz or something )

 

[StephenArfer]

How about Rustins Plastic Coating? Made for the job.

 

[baldkev]

How about Rustins Plastic Coating? Made for the job.

I havent used that before, have you?
I just looked at reviews on amazon, which are positive although some of the photos look like theyve got orange peel i guess its down to application. It says you should apply coats within 2 hours to get good adhesion to the previous coat or if longer, leave to cure between coats

 

[niall Y]

I have used Rustins Plastic Coating in the past. You can build up quite a layer by applying subsequent coats. There is no reason for orange peeling as it can be cut back with wet and dry to get an ultra- smooth. finish. I found it better to wait several days after application before applying the buffing liquid. That way it comes to a much higher gloss.
Its only downside is that it forms such a smooth polished surface, that it is a bit like peering through a sheet of glass to the wooden surface below.

 

[Richard_C]

I'm not a great fan of super glossy but its a matter fo taste. Plus - customer is always right. A few years back we stayed in a holiday rental with epoxy coated live edge everything, worktops, tables, walk in, go "wow" but after a week it was as if it was shouting at me. It was quite nice to be back home with our oiled kitchen worktops and less need for sunglasses at breakfast. I digress.

Sticking with your acrylic PU idea, I generally use unbranded (like screwfix) stuff but did a live edge yew slab desktop with Ronseal "Diamond" clear gloss - it seemed to be a much thicker 'build' than the cheap stuff so maybe worth a go, Still looks fine after a couple of years, albeit indoors.

I mainly do wordturning, and again prefer mellow finishes. I sometimes use spray lacquer, usually the bog standard toolstation one, but did try out Plasti Kote clear sealer - much too blingy for me but might be just what you are looking for. You can sort of sense the depth, its high build.

I often wonder about polishing up a varnish/pu finish with T cut or brasso and using one of the high gloss car polishes - AutoGlym (and others) do some which are just a top coat polish, not a cleaner+ polish combined like many are. It would be interesting to hear if anyone has done it.

 

[baldkev]

Ive taken delivery of the oak slab, its 3" thick, fairly lumpy! Anyway, theres an area that will need to be filled, so im almost certainly heading towards epoxy as I'll use that to fill the crack.

Thanks for everyone's input

 

[alex robinson]

I'm not a great fan of super glossy but its a matter fo taste. Plus - customer is always right. A few years back we stayed in a holiday rental with epoxy coated live edge everything, worktops, tables, walk in, go "wow" but after a week it was as if it was shouting at me. It was quite nice to be back home with our oiled kitchen worktops and less need for sunglasses at breakfast. I digress.

Sticking with your acrylic PU idea, I generally use unbranded (like screwfix) stuff but did a live edge yew slab desktop with Ronseal "Diamond" clear gloss - it seemed to be a much thicker 'build' than the cheap stuff so maybe worth a go, Still looks fine after a couple of years, albeit indoors.

I mainly do wordturning, and again prefer mellow finishes. I sometimes use spray lacquer, usually the bog standard toolstation one, but did try out Plasti Kote clear sealer - much too blingy for me but might be just what you are looking for. You can sort of sense the depth, its high build.

I often wonder about polishing up a varnish/pu finish with T cut or brasso and using one of the high gloss car polishes - AutoGlym (and others) do some which are just a top coat polish, not a cleaner+ polish combined like many are. It would be interesting to hear if anyone has done it.

I have tried polishing PU with car polishing compound. It worked ok, and ended up with a very glossy finish. It needed a lot of coats to get a thick enough layer to polish without risking going through at the edges.

Overall though, I think if that is the sort of finish you want, a top coat epoxy (not the thinner casting ones as they have much less UV resistance) works better. It is easier and much more clear.

I have also tried the Rustin's plastic coating and found it inferior to epoxy, especially for flat surfaces.

If you are going for gloss, you might as well go all the way. Nano ceramic car coating on top of the polished epoxy gives it a better shine too - better colour to the wood, less of the surface reflections and protects against scratches.

 

[imageel]

I havent used that before, have you?
I just looked at reviews on amazon, which are positive although some of the photos look like theyve got orange peel i guess its down to application. It says you should apply coats within 2 hours to get good adhesion to the previous coat or if longer, leave to cure between coats

I've used it and as @niall Y mentioned if you need to build up a reasonable thickness with multiple coats then this can take a while as it is quite thin, however the upside is it can be smoothed easily and using wet-n-dry you can easily achieve a piano depth finish if you wish. It also as Niall mentions need to be left for a while after the final coat has been applied since contrary to the manufacturers blurb, it continues to cure (perhaps out-gas?) for some days after so it's best to await the final buffing stage to achieve a long lasting finish.
The upside is once fully cured it is quite durable and will withstand hard knocks, hot drinks etc with impunity.

 

[imageel]

I forgot to add - if you have access to someone who can spray 2-part catalytic paint (2k) you can get the same finish way quicker..

 

[baldkev]

I forgot to add - if you have access to someone who can spray 2-part catalytic paint (2k) you can get the same finish way quicker..

As in spray it with 2pk laquer? Good idea i do have spray kit.
I ordered some more epodex last night, ive been very happy with that in the past

 

[imageel]

As in spray it with 2pk laquer? Good idea i do have spray kit.
I ordered some more epodex last night, ive been very happy with that in the past

Yes that's the stuff - I've only used it in fair weather and outside since you need otherwise to have full protective extraction since the fumes are highly toxic.
The upside is you can re-coat within ~20mins and sand after about an hour, so super quick to get close to a final finish pretty quickly. Personally I'd leave final polishing for a day or so since the out-gassing and presumably polymerization does carry on for a bit so the surface finish may change slightly if you don't delay.