Polyurethane cloudy

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Question: I am refinishing a table for my neighbor and she supplied all the products including the polyurethane. It's a little drum top table that was painted orange.

I stripped it and stained it with a Red Mahogany and the outcome is beautiful. But the polyurethane is milky. I hand sanded it again but got the same affect. I'm in Nashville and in August the humidity is a nightmare. My son left the front door open the other day and the fire alarm went off! Does that have anything to do with the way it looks or did I do something wrong? I have another week to finish so I need some help if you can get to me in time. Anytime I do a job for someone it has to be as close to perfect as possible. I want this little table to be beautiful for my 95 year old neighbors birthday.

Thanks, Kim

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Polyurethane cloudy

Reply: Hi Kim The humidity could be the problem. The age of the polyurethane could be another problem. If the inside of the can is white it's probably lined with epoxy and over time the polyurethane will react with the epoxy causing problems.

If you used a water base stain and it wasn't completely dry it could also be the problem. Just my personal opinion, polyurethane is a problem.

You might try testing the polyurethane on a piece of scrap wood. Just sand the wood and clean it with a tack rag, then brush on some polyurethane. If it dries clear then you know it's reacting with something else on the table, possibly the stain. You might try a sanding sealer. Be sure that the sanding sealer is compatible with the type of polyurethane you're using.

If the test dries cloudy it's a good chance the humidity is the culprit. Polyurethane generally takes long enough to dry that it can absorb lots of moisture from the air. You might try another test and use a blow dryer or heat gun to coax the polyurethane to dry a little quicker. The dry electric heat will help to lower the humidity around your work too. Don't get the heat too close to the work though or it'll bubble it.

You might try Deft Brushing Lacquer. It takes lots of ventilation, because it's stinky as the dickens, so it could be a problem controlling humidity using cross ventilation. Deft will dry in just a few minutes and by using the extra heat it'll dry almost instantly so will have less time to absorb humidity.

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