What to use to apply finish?

[Mrk67mark]

What do you use to apply finish (stain, poly etc.)? I usually just use the disposable foam brushes, but I'm having a hard time getting a good finish out of poly with them. I know there's bound to be a better way. Thanks for any advice.
Mark

[crokett]

I buy wipe on finishes and use a rag. It is easier to control blotching and rags are always disposable - no cleaning.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Absolutely. Thin that poly down with mineral spirits or naptha and throw in a touch of boiled linseed oil. Most of us would never need to buy rags as the clothing we voluntarily wear around the house are great rags for wiping on poly. Wipe on is hand down winner with poly.

Oh for an exact mixture start with 50% poly, 40% solvent (MS or Naptha) and 10% boiled linseed oil. You may choose to skip the boiled linseed oil and decrease drying time with little affect on the finish.

[bluzcat]

I agree. That 50/50 poly/naphtha recipe I picked up here works great. My projects are usally small and flat. I take one of those heavy blue paper towels, cut it in half, fold it up and put it in a big binder clip. Make a real nice disposable applicator. One note with this wipe on, each coat is very thin. I typically apply 6-8 coats with satin and at least 8 with gloss. The good news: on a warm day you can easily apply that many coats.

[jessrice]

any particular brand of poly you guys are diluting down? water based or oil based?


Do you think this would work with the outdoor mixwax Helmsman Spar Urethane
thanks

Jesse

[Jeffrey Schronce]

General Finishes poly is great. Of course it is about the same price as premixed General Finishes Arm-R-Seal so might as well get the Arm-R-Seal.
Minwax poly is much cheaper and in this application I can't imagine it would perform substantially better than General Finish Poly when it is diluted down, etc. If I were not concerned with price I would just buy GF A-R-S since it is ready to go and is an excellent wiping poly mix. If you are concerned about price, then Minwax at HD or Lowes should be fine. Start moving up to better stuff and you start getting in the General Finishes prices.
We are talking about oil based.

[Tom Slick]

I apply full strength poly with a foam brush or a synthetic bristle brush. I give it a light sanding between coats then wipe it with mineral spirits.
I just rag on/off the stain.

laquer sprays out of a spray can very nicely. I know you didn't ask about it but I figured I'd through it in as a bonus factoid.

[jessrice]

thanks,

how does the 50/50 or 50/40/10 ratio work on vertival surfaces, such as wainscoting? like 200 feet if it??

Any special tips, or does it apply about the same?

thanks again
Jesse

[sparkeyjames]

For flat surfaces I use a thinned down Minwax polyurethane (10% to 20% Mineral Spirits) and a ultrafine foam roller. Rollers help cover large amounts of flat area very quickly (doors and shelving panels). I use foam brushes and bristle when the need arises. The MS helps surface smooth out much quicker and also makes air bubbles pop and smooth faster as well. Leaves a glass smooth finish. Will be trying spraying it on in the near future. This will probably mean thinning it down even more. (will be testing a somewhat cheap HF spray gun).

[drumpriest]

For those unfortunate occasions where the finish involves stains I use minwax wipe on poly. Mostly it's Seal-a-Cell and Arm-r-Seal.

And I apply with rags ala Rockler's "bag o rags". Just spare t-shirt material.