Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Varathane is not sticking to door!!! help!!!

I have been trying to refinish a door and I am really loosing my patience. I had this door repaired at a furniture refinish shop. They gave it back to me in a stain. I wanted to hang the door so I could Varathane it on both sides at once. I found that this was almost impossable to do without getting runs. Anyway, after the first coat I waited about 12 hours and then applyed the second. It wrinkled in a few places which I don't understand but I let it set for about two weeks and then sanded it with 320 to re coat it. The problem is it looks like it is not sticking to the door!!! If I sand through at all it just seams to peal off!!!! I can take my finger nail and just peal it off!!! It appears to sand very nice powdering off with just the normal amount of guming of the paper that I would expect with this kind of a product. By the way I am using Varathane Classic Clear Spar Diamond. Their web site says not to put it over any waterproof stain or a number of other things, could this be the problem? I don't want to have to call the people who did it, I don't think it would help and I have had nothing but headaches from them anyway. If anyone has any ideas I would be very appreciative. Thanks.

If the manufacturer said don't do it, he probably meant DON'T DO IT!!

Most urethane finishes are snobs - they're very particular about what they associate with, including stains and other finishes. The wrinkling and peeling away with you fingertip indicates something is on the door the Varathan doesn't like - and won't stick to.

I'm afraid you need to strip the door again, and closely follow the directions on the Varathane can on what NOT to use .

You know what really ticks me off here is that I really know auto paint and of course this is a universal rule, FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. The problem is I didn't tell the guy who did the door what I was going to put on it (if that would have helped) so now I am stuck!
Now EVERYTHING has to be striped from the door! I will have to restain it, this is the project from hell :(

It's no comfort, but I've had the same thing happen...the left hand didn't tell the right hand what it was doing.

From your experience in auto paint you know how critical it is to match sealer with finish coat - a lot of them just aren't compatible at all. Working with wood, you have the added hazard of mismatching a stain with the sealer/finish coat.

Don't call yourself old too fast, BTW. I'll be 60 if I make it 'til February and I'm still working full time - by choice. I drive a new truck - a 1973 Ford, and live in a new house - built in 1959.

Come on back if you need to scream out loud about something else!!

Thanks George, I'll regroup and take another stab at it.