Polyurethene too shiny
#1
Polyurethene too shiny
I recently installed new interior doors and woodwork. I used the Gloss polyurethene and now realize I should have used the semi-gloss, as these doors are too shiny for my taste. Is there anyway I can dull the gleam of these doors without redoing them. Will steelwooling help?
#2
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Location: Tampa
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Yes, you can use steel wool to dull the finish. Be careful, use finer steel wool at first, and wipe the dust with a tack cloth. Then let it dry to see the results. If it's still too shiny, use a coarser steel wool. I don't recommend abrasive paper as it cannot get into the little nooks and crannies like flexible metal wool can.
You can buy tack cloth, but frankly, they rob you blind for what is essentially cheesecloth found in your local grocery store, and common mineral spirits, found at the same place, but if not, at any hardware or Mart type store.
And don't wipe too hard, because you can defeat the purpose by actually solvent dissolving the surface and smoothing it out too much, retaining the shine. You want a micro-rough surface to dissapate the light rays, giving you a matte look.
You can buy tack cloth, but frankly, they rob you blind for what is essentially cheesecloth found in your local grocery store, and common mineral spirits, found at the same place, but if not, at any hardware or Mart type store.
And don't wipe too hard, because you can defeat the purpose by actually solvent dissolving the surface and smoothing it out too much, retaining the shine. You want a micro-rough surface to dissapate the light rays, giving you a matte look.
#3
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Another alternative is to apply another coat of poly with a satin finish. I have alwasy read that even if you were oing to have satin finish as the top coat, it always was better to use gloss because there were more hardners in the gloos that the satin
#5
My vote is certainly for the steel wool, start with 0000 (4 "ought" or however you spell it). We use it every day in our cabinet shop on lacquer. Our lacquer supplier doesn't know what "dull" means, even their dull looks like semigloss, so if it's critical, like matching the trim in a historic house, we use the steel wool to dull it up. Pretty easy.