Folks
Anyone have a good recipe for a wipe-on scratch remover? I have a job to clean up a house full of stained and poly-ed baseboard, doors and cabinets that are beat up and scratched from vacuums, moving furniture, and general wear and tear.
I’ve used commercial products sold for this purpose before, but at about $8/pint I figure it must be stuff that I already have on the shelf. I am guessng acteone or MIBK as solvent, some coloring, but don’t know what else. The main feature of the commercial products is that they don’t harm the existing finish. Thinned poly doesn’t work because it gives visible lines where applied. Watco takes too long to dry.
Any thoughts appreciated.
Replies
stan,
Nothing disolves cured polyurethane. A scratch remover would have to soften the surface to actually work. It's possible to do that on lacquer or shellac surfaces using lacquer thinner or alcohol respectively. But there is no such process for poly.
Commercial preparations that claim to hide scratches have waxes and silicones that fill the scratches to give a temporary appearance of having eliminated them. Then the filled scratches accumulate dirt and grime and look even worse.
You could try using 3-0 or 4-0 steel wool with or without mineral spirits as a lubricant and cleaner, to both buff out the scratches and uniformly abrade the surface to accept a new finish layer. Then refinish with a wipe-on poly preparation.
Rich
Edited 4/1/2007 7:16 pm ET by Rich14
Thanks Rich. Hiding the scratches is all I need to do. A quick wiping with all the trim in place is all that is expected. I realize that the scratches will still be there. I was just looking for a less expensive solution with materials on hand.
Old English on the supermarket aisle. Or Howard's at Home Depot.Gretchen
Thanks Gretchen. Howard's is what I've been using and its OK. I just thought I could come up with a home version for less, for the quantity I anticipate using.
what about a wipe on poly? You might have to hit the entire area though.
The toughest thing about touchups is not making them look like touchups... and chances are that you're not getting paid enough to make it look as good as you'd like to.
Just my 2 cents.
Otherwise, like Gretchen said, that Old English does a swell job for quick appearance issues.
http://www.petedraganic.com/
Thanks Pete. I've not used Old English before. Yeah, the problem I saw with wipe on poly is having to do all the woodwork instead of touching up.
I am helping get a house ready for showing. I have 1 day to do about 800 LF of baseboard, and 20+ doors, and a couple of rooms worth of banged up paneling an cabinets, and just need to get it cosmetically acceptable.
"I am helping get a house ready for showing. I have 1 day to do about 800 LF of baseboard, and 20+ doors, and a couple of rooms worth of banged up paneling an cabinets, and just need to get it cosmetically acceptable."
In other words, hide the problems long enough to fool enough people to satisfy the realtor.
Well, why didn't you say that in the first place. I thought you actually wanted to repair the finish. It does say fine woodworking on the door.
Rich
Rich
I truly appreciate your comments - I did ask about a recipe, not the slickest way to fool someone. Replacing or taking down and re-finishing all the woodwork in a house that is only 5 years old (kids & dogs) may be fine woodworking but wasn't a practical answer either. Seems to me that any just about any cosmetic repair is disguising a problem to fool the eye.
Howie
Thanks - I did understand in time, once I thought about it.
My first thought was Watco/Minwax. But those do dry slowly. I'll provisionally ditto what Rich suggested. There are commercial touch-up products out there, like Mohawk/Behlens, which might work well. But from what little I've played around with them there is a definite learning curve before they can be used to their maximum benefit. Most guys that are really proficient with them have gone through Mohawk's school in Southern Cali.
I personally would be leary of using Acetone or MIBK on any kind of finish. While Rich is absolutely right that nothing will dissolve a poly once it's cured, the solvent resistance testing on poly is typically done with MEK because it's so freaking aggressive. Acetone and MIBK are both Ketones and while I would happily defer to a chemist on this, I would guess that either of them could potentially degrade the poly under the conditions you're talking about - particularly the Acetone which as far as I can tell is the most similar to MEK out of the entire Ketone family of solvents.
A number of years ago, a neighbor had the same project. He and I discussed it and decided to use a wiping varnish.
The first step was to clean the surface. We used mineral spirits and 3/0 steel wool and wiped the surface dry with lots of paper towels. Next we scuff sanded the surface with 220 paper and vacuumed off the dust. We then wiped on a coat of home brew wiping varnish. The homebrew is the standard wiping varnish consisting of 50% varnish or poly varnish and 50% mineral spirits. The wiping rag should be more damp than soaking wet. Wipe and rub the finish on and let it dry.
Note that this does not fully hide the scratches because oil based finishes do not dissolve the existing finish. But, I made the scratches hardly visible and virtually invisible from a few feet awax.
If there is a major area of damage, that must be fix first and a coat or two of unthinned finish applied using artist brushes. Make the repair before the scuff sanding so when you scuff sand it tends to blend in the repaired area.
Thanks Howie. I didn't think of thinning the (already thin) wipe-on, which should make it dry fast and not be overly visible. I'll give it a try - might add appropriate stain for coloring.
Maybe I wasn't clear. I am not suggesting that you thin a wiping varnish that you purchase as a wiping varnish. My suggestion is to make your own wiping varnish by mixing varnish and mineral spirits in a 50/50 ratio. That's all wiping varnish is. The stuff you buy as "wiping varnish" is just thinned varnish.If you want it to dry faster, use naphtha instead of mineral spirits. You'll have to work fast as the surface starts to get sticky pretty quickly.Finally, be careful of Old English or any of the supermarket "polishes". Many have silicone with will make future repairs impossible. Old English does not contain silicone but its only ingredient is mineral oil with a small amount of citrus odorant. Some of their products contain a small amount of stain and some contain mineral spirits to "clean" the furniture. In other words, it's just something that is more marketing and promotion rather than any type of real finish. You can do the same thing by purchasing mineral oil at the drug store, mix it about 3 parts mineral oil and one part naphtha and you will have the same thing. Of course, it really has no long term effect on the surface.Howie.........
I agree that the Old English would be totally "cosmetic"--definintely not a finish, but the DARK DARK one I keep will cover any scratch I have!! I am not aware of any other than that (not clear or light colored)--it may be called "scratch remover". I don't use any other kind or thing.Gretchen
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