Table Top Finishing Fix

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Question: How can I fix the streaks on a table top I’m refinishing? I’ve used your buffing technique as I saw on YouTube, along with waterbased urethane. The surface is smoother but the streaks still remain.

A: From the photos you sent it looks to me like the bare table top was not sanded as smoothly as it should have been. If you run your fingers over the surface, can you feel a raised texture? It looks like there would be something to feel there. If so, then no amount of buffing will make things nice and smooth. To work properly, the underlying surface must be perfectly flat and smooth. Only then can buffing create that great, glass-smooth finish that makes any table look and feel so good.

Another issue looks like the water-based urethane you used and the brush marks these products often leave behind. How do you feel about sanding back to bare wood incrementally through all the main grades of sandpaper, then applying four coats of non-water-based urethane?  I guarantee that you can achieve a glass-like result this way when it comes time for buffing.

Applying urethane successfully has become more difficult as government regulations force manufacturers to move away from oil-based urethanes to waterbased ones. Waterbased is always more difficult to work with than oil-based because waterbased dries so fast. There is one oil-based urethane I know of that works fabulously well, it’s easy to succeed with, and fairly widely available. Try some Varathane Pro Finisher and I think you’ll be quite pleased. It’s so easy to get good results with it.

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– Steve Maxwell