ChipsnSawDust

I built a fireplace mantel for our new gas fireplace. It was basically a torsion box wrapped with knotty alder to be finished in nutmeg. I always use a mixture of shellac and naptha as a prefinish to prevent blotching. It works beautifully. Before assembling, I applied two coats of wipe on gel stain and let it dry. I then had a brain fart, got "creative" and decided that I would assemble the mantel (using glue and a pin nailer), then fill the pin holes with a soft wipe off putty, and then apply one more coat of stain. Boy did it look nice. The grain was popping and you absolutely could not even see the pin holes from the nailer.

Now for the finish. I busted out my trusty general finishes wipe on gel poly which I generally apply with a sponge brush. It looked great until it dried when I noticed an obvious lighter circular area around every nail hole. Apparently the putty I used bled through the stain, reacted with the poly and litterally ate the stain where I had wiped the excess putty from the pin holes (using a nice tight circular motion). I decided maybe I could live with it until my wife saw it, so of course I got to start over from scratch.

The RAS was my first stationary power tool, before I had a shop and any oher tools, simply because I couldn't afford a cabinet saw and a SCMS or decent chop saw. Actually the SCMS wasn't invented at the time. I picked up an ancient Craftsman RAS for 100 bucks with a cabinet and the thing was bullet proof. I did some crazy cuts with that thing and eventually replaced it with the usual arsenal of tools as my income outpaced my comfort level with the RAS. I really missed the RAS until I could afford a decent SCMS and now between that and my cabinet saw I can't imagine why I would ever own a RAS. It has been replaced by better, safer tools. It's dead fellas. Time to move on. Manufacturers have realized this as well.