Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Cloudy streaks on finish

I posted about the success I had using Polyshades to darken my worn, tired banister. After applying the first coat it looked great! Beautiful! 2nd coat went very well too. Should have just left it alone. While doing the 2nd coat on the underside, I decided to go over a few spots on top to darken them even more. Looked nice until it dried and now I see dull, cloudy streaks all over the place. The only thing I can come up with is that I used a bruch the first 2 applications and it turned out nice. The "touch ups" were done with a foam brush... (because I was getting lazy). Now I don't know what to do! What could have caused the dull streaks? The depth of color is fine throughout. Just the sheen is streaky. I am thinking that I should just go over it one more time tomorrow with my original high quality brush? Should I sand it first? Or should I use another product (like a poly) to even out the sheen since the color is fine? I used the bombay mahagony satin. Ugh. I am so mad at myself for not just leaving it alone! I would really appreciate some advice before I screw it up any further. :(

Thanks!

As long as the color is fine, I'd lightly sand with 220 grit and apply a coat of clear poly. It is always a good idea to use clear poly over polyshades. This helps to protect the color. When you wear away [over time] polyshades you are also wearing away some of the color.

Thanks, I'll do that. What could have caused the dull, cloudy streaks? I would like to know so that I do not have the same problem in the future.

Thanks again.

Hard to say. My first thought was that you didn't throughly stir the polyshades but you said the color was fine so I doubt that was it. It is possible you over brushed on wet poly. I don't use foam brushes so I don't know if that could have caused it or not.

When I first started painting all the old timers swore that you couldn't varnish in damp weather because it would cloud up the finish. I've never personally had this to happen and suspect it was a problem with shellac [which was all but phased out by the time I started painting]

Sorry I don't have a more definitive answer for you

mark

I'm going to place blame on my lazyness in using the foam brush. I know better. I was so concerned with drips that I think I over brushed the areas as you suspected. Sanded it down yesterday, used a nice bristle brush and it looks good. Whew! Lesson learned. I'm thankful I was reminded to not cut corners on a relatively easy fix and not on something that would have gotten me into deep trouble!

Thanks for the help!