wood sealer

[caitejay]

I know I can mix together a sealer for the wood before assembling my dollhouse, but is there something pre-mixed I can buy? I'm not a big fan of mixing together some awful-smelling concoction. I bought Miniwax fast-drying polyurethane, but I'm pretty sure that isn't the right stuff.

[Gayle]

Polyurethane is not a wood sealer until you've finished staining and sanding.

You can mix a 50-50 mixture of shellac and denatured alcohol as a sealer.

If you plan to stain any floors or other parts, don't seal it. Apply the stain, sand, then poly, sand, poly, sand and poly again. You can use #0000 steel wool between the last two coats of poly. You can then use a paper bag to add luster to the finished work.

Kilz is a good primer for walls and ceilings. It seals the wood so that the natural chemicals in it won't bleed through your paint or wallpaper.

I'm sure I missed something but maybe this will be enough to get you started. Hope it helps.

[caitejay]

That's awesome, that's exactly the info I was looking for. I've done so much research in the last few weeks prior to starting my kit, and figured I could easily go back and find the info on the sealer - and of course, now that I'm ready to start sealing, I can't find the info I need!!

I'll save my polyurethane for finished wood, and mix a real sealer instead!

[Peggi]

You can actually seal the wood just by putting paint primer on it. Holly and I both have used a sanding sealer on some of our houses.

I like the sanding sealer, it really brought up the wood grain and I believe saved me some sanding time. I put it on the whole sheets before I punched the parts out and also sanded before punching out. Saved lots of sanding time.

Just remember not to seal any wood you plan on staining. You can paint over stain, but you can't stain over paint.

[Bonsaikathy]

I like the sanding sealer, it really brought up the wood grain and I believe saved me some sanding time. I put it on the whole sheets before I punched the parts out and also sanded before punching out. Saved lots of sanding time.

What a neat idea. Thanks for sharing.

Kat

[havanaholly]

I like the sanding sealer, it really brought up the wood grain and I believe saved me some sanding time. I put it on the whole sheets before I punched the parts out and also sanded before punching out.

Holly has done this, too.

is there something pre-mixed I can buy?

I buy Deft clear sanding sealer at the hardware store (I also buy my Probond glue, my premixed wallpaper paste, packets of sandpaper and masking tape clamps, 1/4" square doweling & some of the other "goodies" with which I bash & build).

remember not to seal any wood you plan on staining. You can paint over stain, but you can't stain over paint.

This is why I've pretty much stopped using sealer.

[KathieB]

Polyurethane ... You can use #0000 steel wool between the last two coats of poly.

My cans of Minwax polyurethane, both the water base and petroleum base, tell me to use sandpaper, NOT steel wool. Yet steel wool seems so logical when all you want to do is knock down the surface a little bit. Does anyone know why they warn against it?

(I've used it on occasion and not seen anything happen that was seriously detrimental to the project.)

[caitejay]

I noticed that on my polyurethane can also - I can't imagine taking sandpaper to stained wood, unless I wanted to completely ruin the finish. Sandpaper seems like overkill, whereas steel wool seems like a good buffer.

Maybe it has something to do with residue from the steel wool?

[chesterfieldzoo]

That would sure cut down a lot of time. Thanks for the tip.

[newt]

hi,

what are masking tape clamps, please?

thank you in advance, folks.

[Peggi]

Masking tape makes great clamps to hold things together while the glue sets. It also proves very useful when no matter how many regular clamps you have, you never seem to have the exact size you need to hold something. So masking tape clamps is really just masking tape being used for/as clamps.

[newt]

aaaah, now i see. thank you!

[nuttiwebgal]

the only real sealing I do is spray kilz primer on the walls

I like to stain the kit floors...sometimes I will paint over them later but I always stain first. and than poly them a couple of times.

masking tape is wonderful for dry fitting and trying to hold things together in weird spots!

nutti

[beccas1963]

Thanks for the priming while the parts are still in the whole sheets stage tip. I never thought of doing that. And I might just do it on my houseboat I just got.

And Blue masking tape is this girls best friend. java script:emoticon(':music_band:', 'smid_4')

Hugs,

Bec

[havanaholly]

priming while the parts are still in the whole sheets stage tip.

I didn't see THAT tip, Peggi & I have used the clear sanding sealer on the parts still in the sheets. The one time I used a white primer-sealer whilst the pieces were still in the sheets the paint filled in the die cuts and I had the devil's own time cutting out the parts because first I had to FIND the little darlings! I swore at the primer-sealer & I swore at the kit & I swore at myself and that was absolutely and positively the very last time I EVER used pigmented sealer on a kit before punching out the pieces!

[Anna]

I didn't see THAT tip, Peggi & I have used the clear sanding sealer on the parts still in the sheets. The one time I used a white primer-sealer whilst the pieces were still in the sheets the paint filled in the die cuts and I had the devil's own time cutting out the parts because first I had to FIND the little darlings! I swore at the primer-sealer & I swore at the kit & I swore at myself and that was absolutely and positively the very last time I EVER used pigmented sealer on a kit before punching out the pieces!

Now that didn't suonds like a fun experience at all Holly!!!! But then again if one doesn't try out new ways one will never know if it works, right????

Hugs

[Peggi]

I didn't see THAT tip, Peggi & I have used the clear sanding sealer on the parts still in the sheets. The one time I used a white primer-sealer whilst the pieces were still in the sheets the paint filled in the die cuts and I had the devil's own time cutting out the parts because first I had to FIND the little darlings! I swore at the primer-sealer & I swore at the kit & I swore at myself and that was absolutely and positively the very last time I EVER used pigmented sealer on a kit before punching out the pieces!

Actually, my tip was sealing it with sanding sealer while the parts were still in the sheets. I think some one took sealing and priming to mean the same. To me primer is a colored paint, the sealer is clear. Could be they are the same but that is how I look at them.