Polyurethane residue - how to salvage art piece?
Question:I applied a thin layer of clear polyurethane to a (sheesham) wooden screen. It looks great, but the finish is somewhat gummy and can easily be rubbed off. Perhaps this is because the wood is so dense. Because of the carving on the screen, it's pretty much impossible to strip off in a traditional fashion.
Any ideas about how to remove it or some finish to apply on top of this to seal everything in? Thanks.
Answers:
Sounds like a nice piece.
Really hate polyurethane, but that's beside the point.
If it s getting gummy , its good news & stripping should be easy.
There was probably an oil finish or even just wax used originally & the poly cannot adhere to it.
For DIY ,a heavy paste stripper is good to begin with.
It will lift off both finishes without scrubbing , scraping & creating a lot of mud.
Avoid sanding & scraping as it will dull the carved detail.
A cleaning with a liquid stripper or even a finish renewer like Formbys should do well using an old toothbrush & bamboo skewers to pick out crevices.
A wipe down w/ mineral spirits for final cleanup.
Being a dense hard wood , a tung oil finish will be easy to apply ( thin coats) & also enhance the grain.
Very likely what the piece had originally if it is of oriental or Indian origin.
If you take your time & pay attention to cleaning up the detail work you will get very good results.
Had to "undo" a number of polyurethane DIY jobs for same reason.
Best regards
I have used polyurethane for over 30 years with no problems. If your finish is "gummy", it means that the poly was applied over and existing finish - probably without sanding the surface. Use a chemical stripper to remove all of the poly, and any other finish that might be on the surface. It may take more than one application of stripper to do this. Use a soft wire brush to get the stripper out of the details (carving). When you reapply the poly after all of this, you should use two coats, sanding between them.
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