First thing in the morning of 1/1/25 I started applying the Rubio Monocoat 2C black. Overall, I was happy with the result. However, with the additional sheen and smoothness of the product, some sanding flaws came to light. And unfortunately, they were right on the top surface of two of the arms. Rookie mistake - I should have caught them while I still had bare wood.
I tried some spot repairs, but was not entirely happy with the results. I emailed Rubio, and they confirmed my suspicions. When using precolor, a spot repair is not going to yield the best results. The fix will be to sand down to bare wood and start over. I am taking a pause before I do that. I'm pretty sure it will bug me from now on if I feel those rough patches on the arms, so it's likely I'll re-sand and re-finish the tops of the arms. I just need to wallow in self-pity for a bit. 😀
Here are a couple photos that I took before discovering the issue. None of them show the patches, though. But they're there.
I love how that grain shows through. These photos were taken immediately after applying the 2C product. If it kept this sheen, that would be perfect for me. It dulls a bit to a matte finish as it cures, so I'm hoping that the Sheen Plus product will bring it somewhere near this state.
Sorry that you literally ran into a rough patch. The arms look great, but I appreciate the desire to potentially refinish to make it perfect to the touch as well as visually. Any chance that the next coat would resolve the concern?
I know how you feel. I refinished the top of a table 7 times because the finish didn't look "just right". Still, I really like the look of the Rubio Black. I'm going to be trying Rubio pure (or natural?) on the maple cabinets I'm building for the pantry. I'll take your experience and make sure to do an extra good job of sanding.
Barb - Once seen, I could not unsee those scratches. And they were evident enough that another coat of finish wouldn't have disguised them, especially this style of finish that doesn't build-up.
Earl - You are a better man than I. I made it to repairing one time (well, maybe three if you consider some attempts as spot repairs). The spot repairs would have been fine if I had only used Rubio 2C black directly over the oak. But because I used their pre-color product first, the repair was not so simple. So if you plan to use a pre-color, be extra diligent when checking your final sanding prior to staining.
Wow! I've made a note of that finish Ross. It's beautiful. They do a lot of nice colours too. Do you think the pre-colour is worth doing before the top coat or would the top coat be enough?
Andy -- Old Chinese proverb say: If you think something can't be done, don't interrupt man who is doing it.
The pre-color is definitely needed if you're after a uniform overall color. Using only black top coat would have resulted in dark black down in the grain, but I suspect much lighter on the smooth surface. When I get a chance, I'll do a test with just the black 2C top coat.
