Traditionally I've used spirit based finishes and been a great fan of a Sam Maloof type mixture to give a barely visible low build finish but it does take an age to dry each coat hard enough to allow de-nibbing.
Compared to the early water based offerings that I really could not get on with, later generations of water based PU have been very good and I've had good results on numerous jobs and am near the bottom of a 2.5 litre potof the stuff.
However this current job involving oak mouldings has been a nightmare.
I've prepped the bare wood to 120 grit and then applied a thin layer of WBPU and it raised the grain. All carefully rubbed back to 120 and the second coat gave a similar rough as a badgers 4rse finish almost like it has raised the grain again.
I've just sanded smooth again and applied a 3rd coat - I'm not that confident the results will be much better.
NB I'm pretty confident that I'm not sanding right through the previous coat so the wood pores ought to be being sealed? I'm only doing 1 coat perday in between other jobs so each coat is plenty dry enough.
Anyone had similar problems or advice to offer please?
TIA
Bob