Waterlox ain't so bad

Finishing.... slowly.

So after my last post I did sand the table top with 320 grit no load paper.  (They just opened a Lee Valley store 5 mins from my work, so I've been kind of a regular there at lunch hour.  Dangerous really, but handy.)  The second coat was really glossy in certain areas of the top so I sanded pretty aggressively in those areas as I wasn't liking the heavy film look I was getting.  The sanding helped, then I put the 3 and 4th coats on with a cotton rag (ripped up T-shirt).  I found this article on the Waterlox site: Waterlox article in FWW.   So next time I will follow this technique more closely.  But for the 3 and 4th coats I put on thin coats in circular motions then smooth out the finish with long stroke with the grain.  And..... its looking nice.  Yep, more along the lines of what I am hoping for.  Still different then Deft, but then I don't know how the Deft would have built up, and definitely not looking like poly (by the way, I should clarify, I'm not bashing poly here, it can be a great choice, it's just not the look I want for this table).  I also used the cloth and thin coat technique on the remaining legs, and after one coat they are looking much better than the brushed coat I did earlier on the back up leg.  So, morale of the story, put on thinner coats, or follow the schedule that Michael Pekovich outlines in the article.  (Of course I still want to try a blend at some point.)

I'm up to 4 coats on the slab now, and like I said, its coming along.  My only concern at this point is that there are areas where the slab has a lot of spalting, and the finish just keeps getting sucked into an abyss in these spots.  It doesn't seem to be building on these spots at all.  So it may be 3 or 4 coats to go yet, maybe more.  This is not a big deal as it doesn't take too long to apply, the only issue is I can only do one coat a day.

Finally, I think in the end I will wax the top.  I'll use 0000 steel wool and then apply some paste wax.  Should be sweet.  Anyone know how bad waxed surfaces are for showing finger prints?