Help with polyurethane application
Hi! Im refinishing my desk and having some issues applying the poly after staining.
Timeline:
- 2 coats gel stain
- Undiluted poly, as the instructions mention, so thick it's impossible to use. Used brush
- Diluted poly 10%, mildly better results, used cloth
- Sanded with 220 by hand using a block with little pressure
- Diluted poly 20%, used cloth, better results but overlap marks are visible (first picture)
- Sanded with 320 using an orbital sander with no pressure. I think could have sanded a bit more because there were some shiny spots
- Diluted poly 30%ish percent, applied with brush (second and third images, there's some dripping on the third one I noticed too late but I'm going to sand later)
The first coat looked terrible, but it's slowly improving especially after thinning the poly. Problem is, I can't get a smooth finish because the desk is in the shape of an L and about 5-6 ft on each side (last image), which means I can't cover the whole length in one stroke, so have overlap marks between rows and in the rows themselves. I'm trying not to over brush too much because this thing thickens in like 3 seconds. lalso tried steel wool but it doesn't seem to make that much of a difference. I'm about to sand it again and reapply, might as well keep building coats.
Thanks for the help!
Edit: just sanded again, 4 passes with 320. Still seeing shiny spots so I "think" I need to keep going. Slightly afraid of going through the poly and sanding the stain, but at 4 coats and this grit and pressure I'm assuming that would be hard to do? https://imgur.com/a/VajdIma. Should I go back to 220?