# Clouding in finish



## Dead Skunk (Mar 30, 2009)

My wife and I decided to refinish our kitchen cabinets. They're oak and factory built. After sanding we applied Minwax wood finish (Natural 209) with a brush. Let it dry until the next day and then applied a brush coat of Minwax Polycrylic clear semi-gloss. Let that dry until the next day and repeated for a second coat. Weeks later (we did this last summer)areas on a few of the drawer fronts started going a cloudy, white colour. The white areas aren't any different feeling, leading me to think thgere's something leaching out of the wood or the stain under the Polycrylic. We "think" that they're getting a little worse as time passes and most of the questionable areas tend to get direct exposure to sunlight coming in through the kitchen window. I'm going to redo them again when the weather gets warmer, but I'd like some input on what may have caused the cloudy areas to form.
Thanks
Warren


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## Julian the woodnut (Nov 5, 2008)

If you dig your finger in the finish, can you peel it off? This is a dead give away that the topcoat didn't adhere to the stained wood.

Polycrylic is a waterbased poly, and you used an oil based stain. That might be your problem, since you should have waited longer for the oil(linseed oil) in the stain to fully cure before adding a topcoat (sometimes up to a week).


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## Dead Skunk (Mar 30, 2009)

*Clouding*

So Julian, I read your reply and went to the kitchen to scratch at the cloudy spots. My wife asks what I'm doing and when I tell her your explanation she tells me "Oh yeah. You can scrape it off with your finger nail.Didn't you know that?" So, upon closer examination it does look like the bare stained wood is all that's there after I scrape at the poly. So then, can I simply lightly sand the drawer fronts and apply another coat of Polycrylic?
Thanks
Warren


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## Gerry KIERNAN (Apr 20, 2007)

Hi Dead Skunk

Welcome to the forum.

If the finish is that soft your best bet is to completely remove it with stripper and start from scratch.

Gerry


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## Dead Skunk (Mar 30, 2009)

*Clouding*

Julian and Gerry
I took the worst drawer front off yesterday and sanded it right down. There's only 3 or 4 bad drawers in the whole kitchen so it's not a big deal to do them over, but I'll have to be careful to get the stain the same colour as the rest. The one I'm redoing as a test seems to match pretty well with a spare door I had stained and not urethaned, so maybe it'll work out OK.
Thanks to both of you for input to the newbie. This kitchen is really the first refinishing job I've done. Probably would have saved myself a little work if I had found this site before I tackled a full kitchen !
:thumbsup: Thanks Gang !!
Warren


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## creative novice (Jul 25, 2008)

*white/sticky*

you said you sanded the finish off...did you use any denatured alcohol to remove all grease? drawers esp will have years of built-up finger print grease/oil...will get you every time. hope your staining came out ok .....live and learn! i have..did..still am :laughing:!


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## Dead Skunk (Mar 30, 2009)

*Clouding*

Oops !! Never did anything more than sand the wood down 'til it looked bare and then stained it. I still have 3 or 4 more drawers to do, so I can wipe them down when I get to them. I want to use the first one to be sure I can get close to the finish I put on last summer, minus the cloudy bits of course.
Thanks for the tip though. I ,too, am learning as I go.
Warren


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