Member’s Question posted at do it yourself.com (slightly edited)
I’m refinishing my kitchen cabinets (I stripped them and after trying Minwax and Varathane due to the streaking, I switched to using General Finishes stain and Arm-R-Seal Oil & Polyurethane.) I also started by applying several coats of gloss and am trying to finish up with 2-3 coats of satin. But it is still a nightmare with the streaking once I apply the satin.
About 25% of the time they turn out beautiful, the other 75% have the streaking problem. I sand/steel wool them down and reapply until I get them right, but I’m having to reapply the satin several times. I just can’t figure it out.
Any advice out there? Is this common as it happened with all 3 brands of polyurethane. Now I wish I had used lacquer, but read that polyurethane wears better. I’ve been at this for months and want to finish this awful job I started!
Here’s what I think:
When you say you stripped them how far did you take it? Sounds as though you haven’t either cleaned it thoroughly, or you’ve got some silicon (from spray polish) laying on surface. Why so many coats? adding more won’t improve it!
Here’s my suggestion:
- Strip one door back to wood, the worst one.
- Use shellac sanding sealer, this will cap any silicon on surface.
- Sand back, using zinc stearate paper.
- Clean off dust, don’t use tack cloth.
- Thin 1st coat and brush adequate coat, not thick.
- Allow to dry thoroughly sand back lightly, with 400 w/dry with or zinc stearate between successive coats.
- Clean.don’t apply more than 3 coats last one thin.
If this doesn’t work - I’ll eat my hat! good luck
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