where to finish?

[corpaul [OP]]

I am planning on finishing our tabletop this weekend with Minwax fast dry polyurethane. Unfortunately it is too cold in the garage to finish right now, so I am stuck doing it inside (I know it would have been a better job for in summer but you know how things go). My other two options are:

- Finish the table top in my workshop in the basement which is not very well ventilated
- Finish the table top in the living room where we can open a few windows (although this is not really ideal either since it will be -7 tomorrow).

What would you do?

[Egon]

Open the windows, set up a couple of fans, one blowing in, the other blowing out, send the family to the Mall, put on a vapour mask and do lt.

Probably best to not be home when the Wife gets back.

[Julian]

Well, you are going to be a very unpopular chap if you try finishing that with a solvent based product inside your house....regardless of where you do it or what you do to try and ventilate...so don't!...... it will be off gassing for days not hours and the sensitive nose of the female of the house will defeat you....so sorry.
Apart from the fact you will both have headaches, that is.
Oh....and by the way... solvents are heavier than air and will sink to the floor ...... and if you do it in the basement the solvent fumes will stay there for a very long time unless you know a lot more about ventilation than you appear too....... In fact this can become a very exciting and explosive experience if you have a lot of solvent build up down there and something like an oil or gas fired furnace with an open flame in the same area ......... people get blown through the walls of their house every year by doing this stupid thing!

You can however still achieve great...perhaps even greater....success by doing several things.
Read on.

First, change your product to a waterbased finish (Don't hang up! There are some very excellent superior/user friendly products out there that outperform the solvent based stuff)....Fortunately for you, General Finishes make some very excellent products and are just around the corner.... get online or phone up at Jeff at www.woodessence.com (not so far away, in balmy Saskatoon) and select one of their most excellent water-based finishing products..... this will handle 95% of your smell and toxicity problem and provide you with a superior much more hard wearing and better looking finish at the same time!
If you have been a die hard protagonist of the Minwax school of finishing then you are in for a most excellent, revelatory and enlightening experience.
You will say: " Wow! This stuff is much better, harder wearing, nicer looking, easier to apply..... who knew??!!!"...but I digress.

Secondly.... temperature is your friend.... the temperature of your wood that is...... this is what counts the most in terms of the product drying and curing in a smooth, harmonious ... and relatively swift fashion. Make sure you bring your table in to the house at least a full day before you intend to do any finishing so it gets a chance to warm up through and through. ..... and you would be smart to turn the heat up in the house (or the room) to 25 to 30 deg C.....you could even put a small heater in the room to augment the temperature gently.... (hint: I said 25 to 30 deg C..... not 35 to 40!..... that will cause your (new waterbased) product to dry too fast for easy application and control and you will be mad.

You will of course need to ventilate gently.....you need to avoid a breeze or airfow across the table while you are doing the actual application.... so for the very brief period of time while applying the product I personally would turn the ventilation off if it was creating a breeze....... and, once you have completed the application(s)..... I would suggest turning the heat up a little more as cure time is directly proportional to temperature..... the warmer the faster eh....this is good once the coating has had time to flow out and level nicely.
That way when the wife returns, having had her hair done or spending all your money at the mall there will be minimal odor and you can bask in her admiration at your supreme professionalism and cleverness.

Onwards to victory!

[corpaul [OP]]

Well, you are going to be a very unpopular chap if you try finishing that with a solvent based product inside your house....regardless of where you do it or what you do to try and ventilate...so don't!...... it will be off gassing for days not hours and the sensitive nose of the female of the house will defeat you....so sorry.
Apart from the fact you will both have headaches, that is.
Oh....and by the way... solvents are heavier than air and will sink to the floor ...... and if you do it in the basement the solvent fumes will stay there for a very long time unless you know a lot more about ventilation than you appear too....... In fact this can become a very exciting and explosive experience if you have a lot of solvent build up down there and something like an oil or gas fired furnace with an open flame in the same area ......... people get blown through the walls of their house every year by doing this stupid thing!

thanks for the warning and glad I checked before starting.

First, change your product to a waterbased finish (Don't hang up! There are some very excellent superior/user friendly products out there that outperform the solvent based stuff)....Fortunately for you, General Finishes make some very excellent products and are just around the corner.... get online or phone up at Jeff at www.woodessence.com (not so far away, in balmy Saskatoon) and select one of their most excellent water-based finishing products..... this will handle 95% of your smell and toxicity problem and provide you with a superior much more hard wearing and better looking finish at the same time!
If you have been a die hard protagonist of the Minwax school of finishing then you are in for a most excellent, revelatory and enlightening experience.
You will say: " Wow! This stuff is much better, harder wearing, nicer looking, easier to apply..... who knew??!!!"...but I digress.

I am happy to switch to another product. I will check out GF (I believe Lee Valley also carries their products). I guess something like this will be suitable? https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop...rmance-varnish

[corpaul [OP]]

I used the GF water-based topcoat this weekend. Pretty happy with the results, and a world of difference in terms of smell. Thanks!

[bkrits]

I have found Osmo oil to be the best product now, I finished my award winning chest of drawers with it and now use it on most of the bowls I turn.
Water will not stain it, it is a wipe on product so only a cloth is needed, it is a very low smell that is not too unpleasant, per tin it seems expensive but then it goes a long way one coat is enough but I usually go to 2 coats it needs to be very thin coats then it dries over night.
It is also very easy to do a touch up should any damage occur.