Polyurethane over oiled finish

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sams93

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Hi,

I have been working on a small router table as a project. It is made from birch ply with sapele edging.

I am not a very experienced finisher, and I was hoping for some advice. I want to use polyurethane to ensure it has a tough finish as the router table top will obviously have lots of pieces moved across it..

I was wondering if I would be able to oil the sapele first to bring its grain out, and then paint the whole project with Polyurethane.

I am planning to apply 3 coats with a brush. I’ll sand lightly at 240 grit between coats, and then sand the final coat at 600 then buff.

This is the poly I will use: Polyurethane Varnish Satin 1L | Toolstation

Thanks!
 
I would suggest you apply the polyurethane FIRST.
The first coat can be diluted.
Three coats is good, then sand with 400 grit and apply a wax - best I have used is a micro-crystalline wax "renaissance wax" from UK.
It's really interesting that a good polyurethane first coat produces a visual result as go0d as any oil.
 
Hi,

I have been working on a small router table as a project. It is made from birch ply with sapele edging.

I am not a very experienced finisher, and I was hoping for some advice. I want to use polyurethane to ensure it has a tough finish as the router table top will obviously have lots of pieces moved across it..

I was wondering if I would be able to oil the sapele first to bring its grain out, and then paint the whole project with Polyurethane.

I am planning to apply 3 coats with a brush. I’ll sand lightly at 240 grit between coats, and then sand the final coat at 600 then buff.

This is the poly I will use: Polyurethane Varnish Satin 1L | Toolstation

Thanks!

I think that's the stuff I used on a kitchen stool I made during covid lockdown, after 2 years with a family of 6 up and down it in shoes and wellies etc it looks as good as new.
 
I've used water based poly over danish oil with no problems. I applied 4 coats of oil over 4 days, denibbing in between as per normal, then I left the piece for about 1 month until there was absolutely no tackiness and then brushed on a couple of coats of Ronseal poly varnish over the day. Decent finish, not cabinet makers finish nut good enough. I used Screwfix no nonsense danish oil by the way. I think the trick is to leave the oil until it's completely dried before adding the poly.
 
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