Subject: Finishing cypress

From: Adrien Delbasty <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 29 Mar 1997 07:42:26 -0600

Help, Please
My son built two cypress end tables and asked me to finish them for him.
He wanted me to use sanding sealer, then satin polyurethane varnish.  I
read in one article not to use sanding sealer, but rather thin varnish 50%
for the first coat, then  gloss varnish for build coats, then satin for
finish coat.  I used the thinned coat of varnish, put tables aside to dry,
and now two days later they still have not dried.  My son said that is why
he wanted me to use the sanding sealer.  He said varnished cypress is very
hard to dry without sanding sealer.
HELP, what do I do now, any comments????
Thanks
PS Live in south Louisiana where humidity is higher than temperature!!!!!

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From: [email-masked] (Tom Gauldin)
Date: Sun, 30 Mar 1997 15:57:50 GMT

Cypress is very oily and getting any finish to dry is a problem.  LA is well
known for its humidity, as I recall.  My advice is PATIENCE.  Now that you've
coated the tables with the thinned finish, I'd just put them aside and check
them in a few weeks.  Subsequent coats of finish will do better, since the
wood will have alread been sealed.  Bringing the table inside to a slightly
dryer air would help also.  Placing them outdoors in the sun could help as
well.  

Just wait- it won't stay sticky forever.

Tom

>PS Live in south Louisiana where humidity is higher than temperature!!!!!

Tom Gauldin           Here's to the land of the longleaf pine,
Raleigh NC             The Summerland,where the sun doth shine.
fax 919-676-1404   Where the weak grow strong,and the strong grow great,
                               Here's to Downhome,the Old North State.

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From: [email-masked] (Robert Klein)
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 1997 08:36:48 GMT

>PS Live in south Louisiana where humidity is higher than temperature!!!!!
=============================================================

The only difference between the thinned varnish you used for a sealer
and sanding sealer is that sanding sealers have sterates added to make
sanding easier (it powderes up as you sand).  What you read is
accurate, it is recommended to build with gloss for a clearer finished
product, then use the less reflective coating at the end.

 Just give it time and it will dry--------unless----------the material
was old.  Pour some on a piece of glass and check it in a couple of
days to see if it got hard.  Iif it does not then you have a bad
batch.

I have finished quite a bit of old and new cypress with no problems in
this Florida humidity.

Mr. Gaudlin is right on track,  have patience.

Regards,

Robert Klein
Robert's Antiques and Restoration
Pensacola, FL  32505  USA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
If you can't find time to do it right the first time,
how are you going to find time to do it over?
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