Need Help with GF Armor Seal - Printable Version +- Woodnet Forums (https://www.forums.woodnet.net) +-- Thread: Need Help with GF Armor Seal (/showthread.php?tid=7348159) |
Need Help with GF Armor Seal - Demps - 05-10-2019 I'm finishing a live edge Cherry bar top. Customer (friend) picked Armor Seal Satin from samples. I've now put 3 coats full strength down, scuff sanding between coats and removing all dust. After 3rd coat dried, the piece looks perfect, until using a severe raking light, then I can see considerable brush marks. I'm using a good natural bristle brush with extremely light tip off.. Everything looks great wet, but the problem shows up when overnight dry. I suspect it simply not leveling, but what to do about that?? *a thinned final coat *a thinned final coat of gloss (could the flatteners be the issue?) *a different application method Something else..... RE: Need Help with GF Armor Seal - jteneyck - 05-10-2019 (05-10-2019, 06:43 PM)Demps Wrote: I'm finishing a live edge Cherry bar top. Customer (friend) picked Armor Seal Satin from samples. I've now put 3 coats full strength down, scuff sanding between coats and removing all dust. After 3rd coat dried, the piece looks perfect, until using a severe raking light, then I can see considerable brush marks. I'm using a good natural bristle brush with extremely light tip off.. Everything looks great wet, but the problem shows up when overnight dry. Demps, if you are seeing actual brush marks you should be able to feel the change in thickness with your fingers. If so, then I would sand it dead flat with 325 grit sandpaper and then apply two or three additional coats. If you have some gloss I would use it for one or two coats and I would thin them around 25% with mineral spirits. Thinning it will increase the open time so you shouldn't get any brush mark streaks. If that looks good you could let that cure a week or so and then rub it out to satin, or you could switch to satin ARS and apply one more coat, thinning like before, and/or using a paper towel. Rubbing out cured gloss is guaranteed to work but takes more time. If you'd rather go with a satin last coat practice on some scrap until you are confident you can apply it uniformly. It ain't easy on large surfaces; to be completely honest, I've never been able to do it on anything larger than about 2' x 5'. Hope this helps some. John RE: Need Help with GF Armor Seal - Demps - 05-11-2019 (05-10-2019, 08:38 PM)jteneyck Wrote: Demps, if you are seeing actual brush marks you should be able to feel the change in thickness with your fingers. If so, then I would sand it dead flat with 325 grit sandpaper and then apply two or three additional coats. If you have some gloss I would use it for one or two coats and I would thin them around 25% with mineral spirits. Thinning it will increase the open time so you shouldn't get any brush mark streaks. If that looks good you could let that cure a week or so and then rub it out to satin, or you could switch to satin ARS and apply one more coat, thinning like before, and/or using a paper towel. Rubbing out cured gloss is guaranteed to work but takes more time. If you'd rather go with a satin last coat practice on some scrap until you are confident you can apply it uniformly. It ain't easy on large surfaces; to be completely honest, I've never been able to do it on anything larger than about 2' x 5'.John, thanks for the quick response. I was hoping you would jump in. I can see what appears to be brush marks with severe raking light (20 deg off horizontal), but can't feel or fingernail anything. It super smooth. Reviewing GF site, I now suspect they are friction streaks (their terms). I very lightly sanded with P600 and they are now gone. I plan a 25% diluted coat of gloss later today and will post results. Thanks again.. RE: Need Help with GF Armor Seal - fptahoe - 05-14-2019 (05-11-2019, 10:21 AM)Demps Wrote: John, thanks for the quick response. I was hoping you would jump in. Hi Demps - first of all, John has forgotten more about this topic than I will ever know, but here is what I have learned from using GF Armor Seal. I don't use a brush anymore, no matter how high quality it is. I have had much better luck applying it with an old clean T-shirt. In terms of applying it, I believe you have to find a balance between applying too much Armor Seal, but enough to not have a streaking effect. After reading your second post regarding friction streaks, I think that may be what you are experiencing. After the final coat and very lightly wet sanding with 600, I finished with steel wool - the nice soft 0000 steel wool from Briwax, and some furniture paste wax. FWIW. Good luck - I am sure it will turn out the way you want it. |