General Finishes Arm-R-Seal

[bigarm]

I am building a medicine cabinet out of cherry wood and am going to finish it with General Finishes Arm-R-Seal oil based finish.  It says to use a folded up rag or foam brush to apply and use 3 coats.  Should I sand between coats and if so, with what grit?  Any other suggestions?

 

[SethThompson]

I think I sanded with either 320 or 400 grit. I'm not sure one or the other would make much difference.

The one thing I would be sure of is that the finish is fully cured. I used it on a few things and even after 48 hours of curing, I could quite easily scratch the finish with my fingernail.  Could have just been my personal experience with it.

Best of luck on your project. Be sure to share some photos with us!

Seth

 

[lancegilason]

I am using it on a quarter sawn beech top that measures about 8 by 3 feet. I stuck the boards together using just a ts75, no joiner, and domino. After sanding to up to 220 from 80 I hit it with a coat or two of Danish oil and let that cure for about three days.  I sanded with 320 between coats of the oil.  I was trying to pop a bit more of the grain with the oil but, to be honest, I don't know if it helped.  Certainly didn't hurt but three days is three days.  I'm on my fifth coat of arm r seal in a gloss and I sanded the first two coats with 320 brilliant.  The next coats with 400 brilliant.  Got a hair in the fourth so that's why I'm on five.  Looks like a mirror if that's what you're going for.  Going to hit it with 1, 2, and 3000 platin and then polish it up with 5000 and 8000 compound. Kind of a pain but go light, go often and don't pick at it when you're applying it.  Let it level out.  Room temp and humidity helps a bunch.  Best.     

 

[Neal W]

This past June I refinished my kitchen table with Arm-R-Seal. 

I sanded the bare wood surface to 220 grit.  After the first coat, applied with a foam brush.  I let dry for at least 24 hours, and sanded with 320 grit.  Applied second coat in the same manner.  Then I sanded with 500 grit granat and applied the third coat.  I was careful to meticulously clean the residue after each coat with a damp rag and tack cloth.  All sanding was done with either an ETS150/3 or a dTS400 sander. 

The finish takes about two weeks to fully cure (if I remember correctly), and we let it sit in our air conditioned house for two full weeks before we used it for anything. 

The Arm-R-Seal is a dream to work with.  Of course this is compared to my previous experiences with minwax poly exclusively (which I still use for projects for my garage and such due to cost).  It flows out very nicely.  It covers very well.  I will use it again for any nicer projects in my future.