Waterlox Gloss Original Finish, Quart

This stuff works great

This works great. Nice and glossy and easy to apply. Spendy but goes a long way.

I haven't used it yet but for the money it had better be good. Shipping took weeks and i'm used to a day or two from Amazon

If you're searching for Waterlox, then you already know it's a good product. I used it to finish my walnut butcher block countertop, because it looks nice, it's waterproof, and it holds up to standard countertop wear and tear. Some other products can't handle even a little bit of heat, or alcohol eats through them real quick, but not this. I wouldn't go setting a hot pan straight from the stove on this, but I wouldn't do that on any countertop. It's also food safe, but I don't like the idea of prepping food directly on the countertop anyways. I don't mind if something falls on it here or there, but I'm not about to cut a slab of meat on it. I'm told it makes a good surface for cutting boards too, but I wouldn't know personally. I added just a little bit of wood dye to the first couple layers to darken it up, but it already does a pretty good job of that on its own. It really brings out the grain without looking artificial. Or feeling artificial for that matter -- the countertop still has a great wood-like feel to it, despite being completely sealed. There's a bunch of good YouTube videos out there on how to apply it, but the guy that knows it best is AskWoodMan. Check out the first few videos of the "Solid Wood Door Series" and you can't go wrong. I won't go too heavily into the specifics. The only thing I did differently was use a GOOD t-shirt rag about 5-10 minutes after applying each coat to get a really smooth coat each time. I used an old bamboo undershirt for this, cut into strips, because I knew it wouldn't leave any lint, and I made sure the strip had some Waterlox on it already because I didn't want to take up too much of the product. This is just to get it really smooth and evenly applied, so the strip will end up pretty soaked early in. Also, I wet-sanded (with mineral oil) all the way to 2000 just before my final coat. It'll get hazy after sanding, but don't worry: the last coat will turn it right back to clear. I ended up with a buttery-smooth countertop that looks fantastic and has a just the right level of shine to it. I ended up putting 7 layers total on my countertop, but you can probably get away with as low as five. It doesn't put off a ton of smell while you're using it, but while drying, it's a whole different story. You want a good fan blowing across this while it dries and you want another fan in the window, and it's still going to stink up the house. I personally don't mind the smell, but I'm weird like that. The more air flow over the surface, the better, as it will take a long time to dry if you don't have active air movement. With a large box fan going across it I was still waiting almost a day between coats. Speaking of drying, once air gets into the container when you open it, it'll start to go bad. You're not going to be able to keep this stuff around for using down the line unless you use the "crush the can with a clamp" trick from the YouTube guy, or otherwise somehow purge the oxygen out of the container. Doesn't matter if you keep the container closed air-tight, as the oxygen now inside it will start to set the top layer of what's left. It wont happen immediately, but you won't get additional projects out of any leftovers if you try to go back in a few months. If you want something to be REALLY glossy, get the high gloss formula. That ended up being too glossy for me. If you're not sure, try both on some scrap first. Worst case, if you don't like the high gloss, you can sand it away and put down some of the regular instead.

I don't generally do reviews but this time I make an exception. I've been searching for the perfect finish to use on my wood turning projects. I want something easy to apply, with a glassy gloss finish and covers in as few coats as possible. I was told that I should try Waterlox Original. I found a bug ridden, half rotted, throw away piece of wood to experiment with and turned a box with a lid from it. After turning, a massive crack developed in the lid so I figured if the Waterlox was junk, I wouldn't loose anything by trying it on this piece first. WOW!!!! The first coat soaked into the wood and the crack actually swelled shut! Back to original! After three coats of Waterlox Original, just look at the finish it left me! Easy to apply with paper towel or just gloved fingers. First coat soaks into the wood and preserves it from inside out. Very forgiving as it spreads out evenly and even applied heavily, did not develop runs. I just ordered MORE of it!!!