Can you sand poly with steel wool?


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Old 06-26-22, 04:49 AM
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Can you sand poly with steel wool?

I'm putting trim molding around my window, I put 3 coats of water base poly on waiting an hour between each coat. The last coat I let dry overnight and when I ran my hand over the trim this morning it feels a little rough, maybe dust bumps? Can I lightly use steel wool to remove the roughness from my trim, I plan on putting one last coat of poly on after using the steel wool..
 

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06-26-22, 05:43 AM
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Using steel wool with a water based poly is not recommended because if you miss even one speck of steel wool you can get a rust stain when you coat it again. You should usually be sanding lightly between EVERY coat. (but follow label instructions) 220 grit or a special sanding pad meant for between coats. (Like 3M Sandblaster pads) You don't want to sand so aggressively that you sand through the finish and damage the color of the stain.

Water based poly is generally a thinner finish than oil so you need to be even more careful about sanding through it. But yes, you should lightly sand it and apply additional coats.
 
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Old 06-26-22, 05:37 AM
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sand paper would be better, it will smooth out/remove the imperfections where steel wool tends to just scuff/polish the surface
 
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Old 06-26-22, 05:43 AM
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Using steel wool with a water based poly is not recommended because if you miss even one speck of steel wool you can get a rust stain when you coat it again. You should usually be sanding lightly between EVERY coat. (but follow label instructions) 220 grit or a special sanding pad meant for between coats. (Like 3M Sandblaster pads) You don't want to sand so aggressively that you sand through the finish and damage the color of the stain.

Water based poly is generally a thinner finish than oil so you need to be even more careful about sanding through it. But yes, you should lightly sand it and apply additional coats.
 
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Old 06-26-22, 06:48 AM
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I'll try using sand paper first and see how it turns out. I'm using colonial molding so it's not actually flat, I'll try a test piece. I knew if I didn't remove all the steel wool that I may get a bleed through of rust seeing it water base, the stain color is between a mahogany and a cherry so I thought you wouldn't really notice. I'll try the sand paper, if I do it lightly enough hopefully I won't remove any finish...

 
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Old 06-26-22, 07:32 AM
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I like the 3x5 sandblaster pads for any curved moulding or mouldings with detail.
 
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Old 06-26-22, 09:30 AM
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Either a sanding sponge or 220 grit sandpaper should do fine. I'm also partial to the sanding sponges.
 
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Old 06-27-22, 02:54 AM
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Something a painter showed me years ago was to tear off a chunk off a paper shopping bag and rub the poly down after the final coat to smooth out very minor roughness. Just be sure not to use the side of the paper that has any printing on it. It's what I've done for years and it really works well for minor roughness
 
 

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