MinWax Clear finish & Polyurethene problem

[BasketballJones]

I completed a relief carving in pine, painted part of it, and clear stained the background with minwax clear stain. Everything was fine. I ran out of deft so I used my fingers to gently handrub the polyurethene into the painted areas. No problem. So I did the same to the clear finish background yesterday, no problem. This morning I check it and it raised the grain in a few areas where I used the Minwax. I sanded it lightly and it made it worse, white fuzziess. So I then got a knife and gently scraped the fuzzies off. It is looking better it appears I am scraping off the polyurethene (which I expected to be be yellow).

My questions?
I know the minwax is a stain in sealer does that mean it needs no further finnishing such as poly?

Why in certain areas and not the entire minwax area did the grain raise and whiten?

I have always used minwax stain and linseed, tung oil and polyurethene after on the minwax colored stains on other wood projects with no problem like this.

Thanks

Ken

[AlArchie]

Deft is a lacquer product and is NOT compatible with polyurethane. Either, applied over the other before the first is fully cured will cause a crackling effect on the finish, which you may have mistaken for raised grain. You may be able to apply poly over fully cured Deft, but even if a first coat of poly is fully cured, an application of Deft, or any other lacquer product is apt to damage the finish.

Al

[Irish]

Hey Ken, Thin areas in the polyurethane will raise fuzz bunnies where thicker areas don't. I think that the very thin layer of sealer is enough to make the fibers raise and stiffen where heavier coating tend to pull the fibers down.

In applying your sealer you may have rubbed out a few areas a bit too thin.

Moisture can also whiten a sealer as polyurethane so you may also have hit an area of the painting that was not quite dry enough to seal. An easy test for what stage of drying your painting has reached is to put the carving against your face ... cheek area. If the carving feels "cold" then it's still damp. If your carving doesn't seem either cold or hot then it's dry. That cold feeling that your cheek feels is dampness.

Acrylics do dry very fast but they can skim over in thick areas. The top layer seals/dries quickly but traps the paint underneath from drying. I usually wait two or three days before sealing a painted carving ... or ... I take the hair blow dryer to it real good!

Susan

Susan

[BasketballJones]

Thanks AlArchie & Susan,

I left the carving in the garage like I ususally do and the temperature dipped down below 30. I checked the white fuzzies with a magnifying glass and they were in fact polyurethane crystals. I figured out that light sanding made it worse because the poly hadn't dried. By lightly scraping with the knife blade rather than s/paper, I was scraping off the crystals and obviously some raised grain. I then cloth rubbed in a light coat of minwax clear finnish. On the cracks were it didn't go in evenly, I finger rubbed it in. I left in the garage. Last night it dropped to the upper 40s. The garage is attached but no heat vents but the furnace is on the inside wall of my garage. The previous night, I left the carving on a table on the outside garage wall. This before reading Susan's post this AM

I now have descriptive evidence as to what happened. The carving wasn't dry. Now I know my Dad handrubbed many of his finnishes. Extra friction, extra heat.