Finish troubleshooter
Pick what you see. Each page gives the likely causes, with the ones the most sources agree on first, how to tell them apart where a source says, the fix, and how to stop it next time.
Every line names where it came from: finish makers' own guides and data sheets (Minwax, General Finishes, Varathane and Zinsser, Mohawk, Target Coatings, Chemcraft) and the USDA's Wood Handbook. A line only one source gives is shown as that maker speaking about its own product, or the Handbook on wood itself; anything no source says is left out.
Stain and bare wood
Texture in the coat
- Bubbles in polyurethaneSmall bubbles, or the pinholes they leave when they pop, are dried into the coat.
- Orange peelThe dried surface is covered in small dimples, like the skin of an orange, instead of flowing out flat.
- FisheyesSmall round craters open in the wet finish, where it pulls back from a spot instead of covering it.
- Brush marksRidges or streaks from the brush stay in the dried coat instead of leveling out.
- Dust nibsSpecks of dust or lint dried into the coat leave small raised bumps you can feel.
Drying and ageing
- Sticky or tacky finishLong after the drying time on the can, the stain or finish still feels tacky, takes fingerprints or gums up sandpaper.
- Cloudy or white finish (blushing)A clear finish dries with a milky white or cloudy haze in it.
- Cracking or crazingThe dried finish splits in fine lines, along the grain or across it, or crazes into a web of tiny cracks.
Before the finish goes on: the finish dry time chart gives each maker's dry, recoat and cure times, and the finishing section has a page for each kind of finish.