[StringSlap]

I'm helping my sister refinish a rustic dining room table. I talked her through all the steps and it came out pretty well. The finish is Minwax wipe on poly. Here's the issue... The table is 20 years old, so has 20 years of people resting their arms on the edges. She cleaned and sanded those areas as best as she could, without going to bare wood though because she didn't want to have to stain. Those areas just don't want to accept the finish properly and are remaining tacky. Rest of the table is fine. Will they dry with enough time? Any ideas greatly appreciated!

 

[Grandpa Grumpy]

You might try cleaning those areas with mineral spirits and then re-apply the poly.

 

[StringSlap]

You might try cleaning those areas with mineral spirits and then re-apply the poly.

She used a citrus based cleaner. It seemed to work well to the naked eye, but I guess it didn't clean well enough. Thanks!

 

[Ibojoe]

The top was more that likely nitrocellulose lacquer. Our skin oil breaks it down. The minwax broke it further. It would have been better to clean it with denatured alcohol before applying the top coat. Used to run into this a lot on stair railing.
How long has it had to dry? I'd give it a week at least.
Good luck my friend.

 

[StringSlap]

The top was more that likely nitrocellulose lacquer. Our skin oil breaks it down. The minwax broke it further. It would have been better to clean it with denatured alcohol before applying the top coat. Used to run into this a lot on stair railing.
How long has it had to dry? I'd give it a week at least.
Good luck my friend.

Been drying since yesterday morning. I won't be able to check it until Monday. Thanks for the info!

 

[Ibojoe]

Oh yeah. Be patient. It’s gonna take a while.