Bubble, bubble, causing trouble

Written on February 6, 2009 at 11:24 am , by Craig Ruegsegger

Progress on the TV stand creeps forward. To get the best possible finish, I’m finishing parts as I go. This way, parts lay flat while brushing on the poly top coat and the finish lays out more smoothly without runs.  But I came across a problem with one of the end panels. See the bubbles?

Bubble poly finish

Oddly, the bubbling was only at the top of all three stiles on this assembly. There weren’t too many options short of scraping off the topcoat and reapplying it. I decided to try the least destructive route and just scraped off the finish in the offending areas. This is after scraping the left stile carefully with a razor blade.

Scraped 1

Then I sanded around the area to blend it in.

Sanded 1

I reapplied the dye and allowed it to dry, then brushed on the poly topcoats. I’m pretty pleased with the results.

Blended in

Here’s the entire panel.

Refinished panel

When I first saw the bubbles, I was not happy. I thought I’d end up sanding the entire frame down and refinishing. With the raised panels, and the profile around the rails and stiles, I couldn’t see that turning out well, not to mention the work involved. But by working on just a small area of a flat surface, the repair is invisible. Thank goodness.

The parts for the end panels are done, as well as the bottom panel. They are in the basement getting the final coats of poly. This weekend, with any luck, I’ll get started on the top assembly, which is a shallow torsion box. I’ll take pics, as that’s one that’s easier to understand once you see it.

Craig

2 Responses to “Bubble, bubble, causing trouble”

1. November 30, 2009 at 8:29 am, by Yes, I’m still working on my TV stand | After Hours with the WOOD Gang

   [...] I’m beginning to have doubts about the brush-on poly I’m using. There was the earlier post about repairing bubbling on one of the frame and panel assemblies. Now on one of the dividers, [...]

2. November 30, 2009 at 8:37 am, by Project in (reverse) progress | After Hours with the WOOD Gang

   [...] finishing issues I’ve discussed in earlier posts here and here. Fixes this time didn’t require such drastic measures, but I’m redoing a lot of work. [...]