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Tried and True Original over Polyurethane?

R

Randy Heinemann

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Jul 19, 2017
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Location
Roscoe, Illinois
For those who have used Tried and True Original finish, do you know if it can be applied over oil-based poly?

I have finished a bowl with 2 coats of wipe-on poly and want to give a little different look. Since the T & T Original is made of linseed oil and beeswax, I thought it would give the piece a better sheen than the poly.
 
I haven't used it over Poly, myself, but I doubt it would give you much better sheen without a LOT of work, time, and patience and multiple thin coats rubbed in and wiped off, then polished. I do know you will need to lightly burnish between cured coats #0000 steel wool or similar (I use 600 grit sandpaper instead) I do not have the patience to wait several weeks between coats for cure time, so at best my use of T&T Original (or varnish for that matter) mostly results in a matte finish - although in some denser woods, and a few bowls I have recoated several times, I can get close to a satin sheen after 2-3 coats.
Nice thing about Tried & True, if the item hasn't sold before I get around to it (or if it has sat long enough that I decided to add a coat) a new coat can be added most any time, and it'd build up over time. If I wanted a shiny surface, I'd just go over the poly with some 400 grit paper (lightly, just enough to scuff it a bit all over) and re-coat with wipe-on poly - which will dry faster and give quicker results. (I use Miniwax Fast dry poly in Warm Gloss)

Given that it is a bowl, and already coated with Poly, I'd just use more poly , rather than try to work up a T&T finish - Generally I finish most of my bowls that may end up as "utility" with straight-up Tried & True and just go for the 1 or 2 coats and an extra rub-down after a few months if it hasn't already sold - a few I have added another coat or two over time, (which are the ones I got the satin sheen to them).
 
I have my doubts. The poly would prevent the linseed oil from penetrating the wood. Unless the 2 coats of poly were insufficient in sealing the wood. If you are after increasing the sheen, a few more thin coats of poly followed by buffing would do the trick.
 
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I think that changing finishes, or adding a finish on top of a finish is a bad idea. If you don’t care for the look of the varnish, try making another bowl, finish it different, and see what you like best.

For this bow, the dye is cast!

Rubout your wipe on poly. 0000 steel wool is good. Maybe another coat, buff, and maybe a coat of a hard wax. I like minwax finishing wax.
 
Randy Heinemann said:
For those who have used Tried and True Original finish, do you know if it can be applied over oil-based poly?

I have finished a bowl with 2 coats of wipe-on poly and want to give a little different look. Since the T & T Original is made of linseed oil and beeswax, I thought it would give the piece a better sheen than the poly.
Click to expand...
The T&T won't work over the poly. If you used satin WOP, try a new coat with high gloss. It'd be hard to get more shine than high gloss WOP can yield. If you used high gloss to begin with, you did something wrong. Between coats lightly sand with 1000 grit or steel wool. Wipe clean with mineral spirits and apply next coat. If you don't like the outcome, then you'll have to sand it down to bare wood and try again.
 
Thanks for some of the input. I used satin WOP but it didn’t really give the usual effect. I realize I could just turn another bowl. I do it all the time. I just liked the grain on this piece and I couldn’t get it to look more or less like I expected so wanted to find a way to improve it. I did test Briwax over the poly and that did improve it and seemed to hold OK. I’ll just buff it and leave it at that. I try to make each bowl a little different and in the end it doesn’t matter much to me if it’s really what I wanted. I’ll just do another similar and try something. The other one either sits in my shop or in my house or in the trash.
 
If the walls are thick enough you could either remove the poly by tool or sand to bare wood. The T&T should then work. Like others have said, don't believe that T&T will work over the poly, just gum up on surface. It needs to penetrate the wood.
 
Mounting it back on the lathe to sand wasn’t really a good option since the bowl was essentially finished, I don’t have a vacuum chuck, and I didn’t think I’d be able to evenly sand the bowl by hand.

I put a light coat of T&T on over the 2 coats of poly and it was kind of oily. I just wiped it off and it came off or didn’t feel like there was any residue. It just gave the surface a softer feel. Then I just wiped some Briwax on, let it dry, buffed it off with a cloth, and it was fine. The bowls are not for sale and just for me, family, and friends. I’ll just keep my eye on it for awhile. If the surface gets oily or sticky I’ll just wipe it or throw it out. I enjoyed turning it, but there are other blanks in my shop which will give me as much satisfaction.
 
When I mentioned buffing, I meant Beall buffing. This will increase the sheen of satin WOP by quite a bit. Also a very good way to remove the finish by sanding is off the lathe. Mount a sanding mandrel in a drill press and hold the bowl in two hands while you move it underneath the pad.
 
The drill press idea is a good one. For now, I'm satisfied that I got close to the result I wanted. In the future, I'll just go back to using what I've used in the past - either Gel Satin Poly, Wipe-on Poly (about the same as gel), a mix of beeswax and mineral oil. All of those work for me, depending on the wood and figure of the piece. Sometimes, I just experiment. Since I don't sell the finished product, it doesn't matter if it doesn't turn out to my liking. I have plenty of wood and blanks and plenty of ideas I've never tried.
 
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