[Fun]

I recently stained and applied 2 coats of a satin polyurethane to a door i purchased that was unfinished.

The second side of the door looks great. The first side has streaky/cloudy white film and can see brush strokes. It’s only really noticeable when i shine a bright light directly on it.

It looked great after staining it. I used a water based wiping stain from sherwin Williams.

I sanded before applying stain with 220 grit.

After applying first coat of poly i sanded first side with 220. I then got nervous and scuffed look and went and bought 400 grit sand paper (and a new bristle brush) and lightly sanded first side again with that. I then sanded second side with 400 grit. I vacuumed up dust then went over with a damp cloth. Then dried it with a dry cloth. Then gave it 15-20 mins to air dry.


I stirred the quart size can for a few mins before applying.

It seems to look worse in areas where i might have applied the poly thicker.

It’s been drying in my garage for 15 hrs now. I applied it when it was about 60 deg. Temps did dip to 35 Deg F overnight. It feels dry to touch now.


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TL;DR: satin poly cause white streakiness. Why? How can i fix?

I was going to give it more time to dry. Then sand with 400 grit and applY a Very thin coat of poly to see if that fixes it.


[pic ](https://imgur.com/gallery/iOwCApP)

 

[mark sr]

I only have limited experience with water based poly/varnish but they go on milky and will stay milky until they dry. It might just need more time.




I just now saw your pic link, that looks more like inept sanding or bad finising, what does it look like if you wipe it with water [before the water evaporates]?

 

[Fun]

If i wipe with water, it looks good.

I sanded by hand with 220 and 400 grit. Should i use an electric sander? Wasn’t sure how much to sand.

 

[mark sr]

If the water trick makes it look good you probably just need to apply another coat of poly. I rarely use anything finer than 220 grit for any wood finish. You do need to sand with the direction of the grain and not across it.

 

[Gymschu]

How long did you wait between coats? I know the temptation is to hit it again after an hour or so of dry time, but, sometimes waiting overnight is the way to go. Doesn't sound like you did anything wrong with your sanding. It's pretty hard to screw up wood by hand sanding with fine grits.

Also, some brands are better than others. I'm partial to Old Masters. Minwax is ok but not top of the line. Not sure what you used, but that could factor into the problem.

 

[Fun]

Waited around 24 hrs between poly coats. It felt dry to touch.

Did 2 coats of stain. Waited around 10 hrs between those coats. Waited over 24 hrs between last coat of stain and poly. It was almost completely try. I rubbed my finger pretty hard on the stain in an area that will be covered by hardware and a very little stain came off on my finger (very little), but didn’t feel tacky.

It’s been in my garage though. Temps have been 50-60 during day and 30-40 at night. Humidity has been in 50s.

 

[SeniorSitizen]

If i'm reading this right 2 coats of stain were applied to make the door darker and neither application was wiped off and allowed to dry but allowed to dry as if it was painted?

 

[Fun]

I should have given more details. It was a wiping stain. So i wiped it on with a rag. I did small sections of the door at a time. I left the stain on for maybe 3-5 mins then wiped it off with a clean rag. I then allowed it to dry as above. After the first coat of stain, it was not as dark as we’d like and could still see some wood color in spots. So i applied a second coat of stain.

Is this correct?

 

[lenaitch]

Water or oil based poly? While water based is really handy, I find that it sets really quickly and doesn't have a chance to 'flow out'. I would 50% RH should be okay, but just a thought. Also, 35F is a little cool for proper curing.


Edit - I've only run into the 'milky' issue over really dark colours.

 

[Fun]

Water or oil based poly? While water based is really handy, I find that it sets really quickly and doesn't have a chance to 'flow out'. I would 50% RH should be okay, but just a thought. Also, 35F is a little cool for proper curing.


Edit - I've only run into the 'milky' issue over really dark colours.

What does 50% RH mean?

I’m using water based poly over a dark brown.

Just got done sanding with 400 grit and applying a third coat of poly.... it just looks horrible with whitish/cloudy streaks.

 

[Gymschu]

RH = Relative Humidity

 

[lenaitch]

My experience with poly over dark colours is really dark colours, like black. Yours doesn't look that dark to me. It might be the photo but the poly coat looks really thick for two applications. I'm a fan of multiple light coats. I've also had been luck with foam brushes (I recognize others feel differently). It might be a drying issue - in the bottom portion of the photo the finish appears 'orangepeel-ish'. Perhaps something that is water-based and 35*F isn't a good combination.
I was tempted to suggest you take it down and start again but without knowing what to do different you might repeat the same finish.