qt Minwax 60910 Clear Wipe-On Poly Oil-Based Polyurethane Finish, Warm Satin

Best wipe on ply I have ever used!

i just started building tables this summer and I had been using the standard polyurethane, clear-satin for my first 3 tables. I would see this stuff in stored, but I didnt understand how to use it, and didnt know what the advantages were, so I never got it. For my 4th table - i decided i would try it.. WISH I WOULD HAVE USED THIS ON ALL OF THEM!!!! this is for sure what the professionals use. When I was using the classic/standard poly, i was being a total perfectionist, but you can still run into issues with drips/brush marks etc. I was learning to lean my tables at a certain angle while they dried to prevent imperfections etc. So the wipe on poly has one disadvantage - you need like 10+ coats to get the same level of finish as 3 coats standard poly. The directions said 3-5, but after 3-5 it looked like 1 coat of regular poly. So, keep piling on the coats until you see the finish you want. it will happen. It is more work - HOWEVER... it is flawless... the coats come out absolutely perfect, its super easy to control and apply.. and the finish you end up with is amazing! Way better than standard poly. While I was working on the table, I was not happy at first because I would put 4, 5, 6 coats on and it was still not popping.. so it is more work. it takes a day to get one side of your table done, if you start putting coats on consistently every 1.5 hours or so.. for like 10 coats.. but when I finally got enough coats on... I totally saw the advantages, because the table was *perfect*. Flawless finish. So it took a weekend to do both sides, working on it from sun up- sun down, but after the table set for a few days... WOW! unbelievable finish, and made me want to go back and re-do all of my previous tables. The thin consistency of the finish makes it very easy to wipe on a very evenly distributed coat. Even as the coats build up, it is so easy to get a perfect, even new coat on. it dries quickly. once you start piling the coats on, it eventually starts building up. Like I said - the first day I did it, I was like what?!!? this is crazy... but the results... WOW! I will never use anything else ever again! Every time you see your table, you can see how it is completely worth it.

Excellent product, but it took some experimentation to get it right. With any polyurethane for furniture or flooring, application can be tricky. I tried many of the methods suggested in these comments. The key is to work very quickly and lay down the caot before it can start to dry. Finally settled on a method close to the instructions on the can. Many comment instructions suggest numerous thin layers, but the problem is that thin layers start to dry too quickly and the resulting surface is not smooth. Then you have to resand and try again and again and again. Here is what worked for me after other methods were not successful. I sanded with the grain smooth with 220 and 400 paper. I cleaned off with a paper towel and then with a hardware store cheesecloth tack cloth. I cut up an old t-shirt into a 4 to 5 inch square and shook off the loose edge nits from the scissor cuts. The table top was about a yard square and I laid down the t-shirt square in the middle. I put on disposable nitrile gloves, shook the can vigorously, and poured a generous, but not overly generous puddle onto the t-shirt square soaking it. I quickly used the t-shirt to wipe and wet the entire surface. Then, I quickly laid down the soaked t-shirt square, folded it, an rolled it into long cylinder. Holding the wet t-shirt cylinder on the top with the fingers of both hands, which allowed for a smooth edge on the bottom, I very lightly did overlapping full length wet strokes over the entire tabletop surface. All of this was done very quickly so that the tabletop was uniformly wet and had not started to dry on any part of the surface. The whole process took probably less than 2 minutes. I threw away the gloves and the t-shirt square and left it alone for 12+ hours without any touching. Then, I sanded very lightly with the grain and repeated the process two times. The result was smooth as glass with a very attractive satin finish. No bubbles. A couple extremely tiny speck imperfections that you have to hunt for to see. The result was very close to the quality you get with furniture factory spray on finishes.

Product number 60910 is the larger size 32oz can and that is exactly what I received. Great stuff, I don't use anything else anymore. Brushing and rolling is for chumps.