Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Shiny Finish

My husband and I are in the final stages of remodling our kitchen. It has been 3 months of hard work. I thoroughly cleaned the "old" cabinets that we used, degreasing them and rinsing them very well. I let them dry 2 days. My husband applied Valspar brand polyurethane in a "satin" finish to these cabinets. THe result was SHINY - very SHINY, and not at all to my liking. However, the biggest problem is that it doesn't seem to want to dry at all! What can we do to hasten the drying (will they EVER dry??)? It's been 3 days and the first ones he did are still sticky. Those he did at the end of the job finally dried but are WAY shinier than "satin" would apply. Should we contact the manufacturer?

THank you for your help!
Kat

Valspar Satin Polyurethane is my favorite brand of finish- I use it all the time, and have a boatload of trim to spray with it this afternoon. It does have a long dry time- especially in hot humid weather- however 3 days seems odd. It sounds like it was put on very thick! It could also have incompatabilty issues with the previous finish on the trim.

I guess I wonder if the can was stirred with a stir stick, because there's a lot of goodies in the bottom that need to be mixed up- dryers and deglossers. If the can was not stirred with a stick (shaking won't do it) then I would guess you didn't apply a very good mix.

I believe the can reads something to the effect of: Satin finishes take up to 7 days to completely dry and until that time will appear more glossy than normal.

If you would like to dull the finish more, or even out the consistancy of the finish, you can always take #0000 extra fine steel wool and rub the door down. (You would not use steel wool with water based poly, but I'm assuming you have the oil based.)

I guess I wonder if the can was stirred with a stir stick, because there's a lot of goodies in the bottom that need to be mixed up- dryers and deglossers. If the can was not stirred with a stick (shaking won't do it) then I would guess you didn't apply a very good mix.





That would be my guess - not properly mixed. You don't want to shake poly as it will get bubbles in it that will often show up in the finish.

Once dry I would try recoating with a well stirred thin coat .

If the poly was well mixed and applied correctly it may be time to contact the manufacture.