Rant: People keep telling me to sand between coats of poly, but I stopped and my work got better.

I was taught to sand lightly with 220 grit between every coat of water-based poly. After a job in Tacoma where the finish felt too thin, I skipped that step on a test piece. The next coat bonded just fine and built up faster with less dust to clean. My final finish on a maple table was smoother because I wasn't cutting into the previous layer. Has anyone else tried skipping the between-coat sanding on water-based finishes?

2 comments

2 Comments

ross.jason1mo ago

Read an article that said modern water-based polys bond chemically, not just mechanically. So sanding isn't always needed if the coats are applied in the right time window. Your test piece kinda proves it.

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blake_martinez1mo ago

Interesting point from @ross.jason... I did a tabletop last year with three coats of General Finishes water-based poly, just scuffing with a brown paper bag between coats. The bond was perfect, no peeling at all. It really does seem to depend on hitting that re-coat window they talk about.