Polycrylic on Red Oak

Question

I am building a table out of red oak. After I sanded it smooth, I stained it with minwax dark walnut (oil based) by using a stain sponge. I would wipe on the stain let it sit for 10 minutes and then I would wipe it off. I repeated that 2 times. It started seeping back up to the surface. I gave it 48 hours (wiping off the excess periodically) and after the 48 hours it stopped. I started to apply polycrylic finish and so far after 5 coats spots of the long grain is still rather bumpy and looks like tiny bubbles surfaced (some look like the pop i cant tell they are so small) and dry causing just the long grain to be rough. This doesn't occur anywhere else but on the long dark grain parts. Do I keep sanding and applying top coats until I have a smooth finish? Will this ever stop?

UPDATE - After doing some research I moved my table indoors where it is warmer (garage temp is around 45 degrees) to help it dry. Now I am seeing "bleed back" or stain seeping back to the surface again through the clear coat!! What do I do?

Answer 1

Yes, water based polys will raise the grain of the wood. This is normal. Typically you'd spray the wood very lightly with plain water to get the grain to raise and sand it with something like a 320grit wet/dry paper to knock that raised portion off.

Since you already applied the poly, you could still do the same- sand it lightly to knock the grain off and then LIGHTLY apply another coat. The lighter the better, as it will raise the grain less.

What you're describing though sounds like more than just the result of water raising the grain- you may have applied the poly too thickly. In this case, i'd give it a decent sanding and apply yet another VERY THIN coat. Don't worry- the new coat should blend out the sanding marks.

This should result in a satisfactory finished product. What you are experiencing is exactly why I don't like using water-based polycrylic. That and it's less durable and less resistant to water damage (from cups, etc).