Tim Puro writes:

 

Groop,

 

I have a question about a walnut dining room table that was

cloudy after I rubbed it out with rubbing compounds.

 

Here's the story. The table had plasticizer migration damage that

occurred 15 years ago when the table was placed in a storage

unit over a summer.  The table had boxes stacked on it so the

owner placed a vinyl table cloth VINYL SIDE DOWN to

protect the top. When she pulled the table out of storage in the

fall, the pattern on the vinyl table cloth had printed a 24" wide

strip across the middle of the table.  The leaves were stored

separately and did not have this problem.

The table's factory finish was a rubbed out matte finish.  You

could see the lines from the machine rubbing. Hopefully you can

see the original rubbed finish and the table cloth damage on the

attached picture.

 

I was able to remove the damage with Mohawk's Level II, Step

1 rubbing compound.  Two hours of hand rubbing removed all

traces of the vinyl marks and the lines from the rubbed factory

matte finish.  Now I have a shinier surface but one which is

cloudy. The client did not want a piano finish so I did not use any

higher grits of compound.  Note: in the "after" picture, the

reflection from the overhead light covers an area with and

without the vinyl table cloth damage.

 

I am going back on-site next week to rub out the table to a

satin/matte sheen using Liberon steel wool and Wool Lube with

water to give my client something close to her original sheen and

I hope this cloudiness won't make much difference. 

However, my question is this: what makes the finish cloudy?  Is it

flatteners in the lacquer?  Or is it the scratch pattern of Level II,

Step 1 rubbing compound? Would the cloudiness go away if I

moved up to finer grit rubbing compounds in the Mohawk

system?  And while I am here, I would welcome any pointers on

rubbing out a table with steel wool.  Any help the groop can

provide would be appreciated.

Tim Puro
Still Learning in Bloomington, Indiana