Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - resin from wood???

I am refinishing an Ethan Allen pine coffeetable i picked up from a yardsale but i am running into some troubles. I have the legs stained and polyurethaned, otherwise completed with no problems at all.

Then I stained the top and got two coats of poly on and something went wrong. Bubbles of sticky "resin" or melted poly began to form. The finish was smooth until then. I thought it may have been heat so....I stripped the entire top again and started over. I used wood conditioner, stained, and then put my first coat of poly on. It is cool in the area I polyed and again it is bubbling. The bubbles were not there when i put the poly on and seem to be raising from underneath the poly (they are not air pockets). The bubbles are sticky and random. What is going on here? Is it resin? Is it the poly? The poly is brand new and was used on the legs for this piece with no issues. I have done other pieces and never had this problem. Someone please help.

I am refinishing an Ethan Allen pine coffeetable i picked up from a yardsale but i am running into some troubles. I have the legs stained and polyurethaned, otherwise completed with no problems at all.

Then I stained the top and got two coats of poly on and something went wrong. Bubbles of sticky "resin" or melted poly began to form. The finish was smooth until then. I thought it may have been heat so....I stripped the entire top again and started over. I used wood conditioner, stained, and then put my first coat of poly on. It is cool in the area I polyed and again it is bubbling. The bubbles were not there when i put the poly on and seem to be raising from underneath the poly (they are not air pockets). The bubbles are sticky and random. What is going on here? Is it resin? Is it the poly? The poly is brand new and was used on the legs for this piece with no issues. I have done other pieces and never had this problem. Someone please help.

Welcome to the forums
Did you sand and clean the top well? Since the table is used I would assume any resin or sap would be long gone. Sounds as if there is some substance on the top affecting the poly.

Yeah i sanded it down smooth and cleaned it off completely. What could be on the wood that would do that? I mean i stripped it down to bear wood twice. And conditioned/stained as normal. I'll take any suggestions you have.

There might be some wax or other substance in the pores of the wood. I would try washing the top with paint thinner or maybe paint deglosser.