****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Just used this for the first time on an antique hoosier cabinet I was restoring. My shop is very dusty and small, so hard to keep dust out of my finish work usually. I wanted to try the GF wipe-on because I heard it dries quickly and helps eliminate some of the issue of getting dust in the finish. I did not use the GF gel stain underneath as I have a lot of other stains already and wanted to use a color I already had. I asked a question here about how the GF Gel Topcoat would work over other brands of stain but the answers weren't really definitive, but I took a chance that it would work okay over OIL-BASED stains by diff. manufacturers. I did some tests first– let the stain dry for 24 hours (Minwax and Varathane) and the GF Gel Topcoat worked fine. I went on the GF website and watched their how-to videos, and also went on YouTube and watched some videos by other folks who used this. It didn't look too difficult, and it wasn't. Compared to a typical brush-on poly, this goes on in much thinner coats, so you need to plan on more coats to give your wood the same level of protection. I ended up doing 4 coats, sanding VERY lightly between with some synthetic steel wool (after first 2 coats), then 200-grit sandpaper after the 3rd coat. After the 2nd coat it started looking pretty nice. After the third coat I wanted to stop, but since the coats are thin I gave it one more. The finished effect was beautiful. Almost like a hand rubbed tongue-oil finish, but super glassy smooth. (Not glossy if that's what you're looking for.) I did not even clean/vac up my shop before finishing. I cleaned the piece REALLY well, and used a tack cloth first, but I did not go crazy cleaning my shop first like I've done before the finishing stage on other work. In the end I really could not find any dust in the finish. I used some hi-tech lintless industrial wipes for applying and wiping down, so that probably helped (I get them where I work). Anyway, very impressed with this stuff, and will not hesitate to use it again. It's a little on the pricey side, but well worth it for a finish you'll love.
