I finally tried Arm-R-Seal after using poly for 10 years and holy crap what a difference

Ngl I've been using Minwax polyurethane on all my dining tables and it always felt tacky or too thick. Switched to Arm-R-Seal on a maple table last month and it leveled out smooth as glass with zero brush marks anyone else stick with one finish for way too long before making the switch?

3 comments

3 Comments

derek6561mo ago

Wait, you actually think Arm-R-Seal is better? I've been using poly for 15 years and never had brush marks or tackiness, you just gotta thin it down with mineral spirits and lay it on thin. My last dining table I did three coats of satin poly, sanded with 400 grit between each, came out like a mirror with zero orange peel. Only time I tried Arm-R-Seal was on a walnut coffee table and it gummed up my brush halfway through and left these weird cloudy spots that I had to strip and start over.

fiona_young17d agoTop Commenter

Funny enough, @jessica_hall49's point actually clicked something for me here. I was solidly in the poly camp for years, always thinning it out too (you know, the whole mineral spirits dance), but after reading this I'm wondering if I got lucky with my Arm-R-Seal attempts or just had a bad batch. That cloudy spot thing you mentioned though, that's rough. My first try with it on a cherry shelf left these weird little fisheyes I couldn't explain, but now I'm thinking maybe you're right about user error on my part.

jessica_hall491mo ago

Gotta say though, thinning poly is standard practice but Arm-R-Seal doesn't need any of that - it's already formulated to lay down perfectly out of the can, so comparing it to thinned poly isn't really a fair test.