Is it "refinishing" or actually "re-coating"?
Over the years church pews get very greasy. You can see it
in particular on the top rails and seats. Hand oils are very pungent. They can
rub off every type of finish known to man. Once that has been done then those
same hands grind black, dirty grease deep into the wood grain. That’s not a substrate that more top
coats of finish will properly adhere to. A light sanding doesn’t remove it. It
takes just plain good old elbow grease to get it out using mild solvents to
assist. A new top coat sitting on greasy soiled finish is more likely to stick
to YOU than the finish below. That explains why pews will feel sticky on
hot humid summer days.
Minwax stain has
wax in it. It always has. (Thus the name.) Even with the addition of Japan Dryers it takes at least a full day in air conditioned spaces
and sometimes two or three days to dry in humid air. There are pew refinishing companies who use Minwax as a top coat over existing soiled finish. Worse yet they are spraying it INSIDE the church.
Over time hand wear will destroy this weak finish easily.
You’ll be lucky to get 5 years out of it. I’ve seen it, stripped it off (it rinses
off like water on a duck’s back), and listened to the stories about how the
budget was tight etc.
It’s best to wait until the church can afford to do the
church pew refinishing in a durable manner than to do this deeply flawed
compromise. In my humble opinion, it’s simply 100% wasted money.
And, of course, we’d love to help you do your project well.Email or call us today. (Don’t worry. I promise! I’m not always this grumpy!)
V Scott Beddome
