General Finishes High Performance Water Based Topcoat, 1 Pint, Satin

Excellent product. Only needed one coat. Went on smoothly and dried quickly. Trying to think of the next project I can use it on.

This is truly a nice product. I've used so many different finishes over the years, and this has to be the most forgiving, and easiest to apply. It looks really great, as well. Clean-up is easy. The only thing I might gripe about is it's lack of a soft amber hue. But that's really because I'm so used to using oil-based finishes and shellac. Having something so clear is strange to me, because I'm so used to seeing the wood warm up with the hues oil based finishes and shellac provide. I will be buying this again, though.

Durable finish best I’ve ever used

To cut right to the chase: I am extremely pleased with the results I achieved with this product. I am an experienced "hobbyist" woodworker but still get apprehensive with the finishing stage of a project. The GF finish allowed me to achieve my goals: a satin finish on a maple cabinet top with no yellowing or color change.The cabinet top is a glued-up maple panel approximately 55" x 15". I sanded it to 320 with a Bosch random orbit sander prior to applying any finish. I cleaned up the sawdust after sanding and between coats of finish with a tack cloth. I sanded and finished BOTH the top and bottom of the panel. I did not count the number of coats, but three was not enough. I am guessing I stopped at eight coats.For the first half-dozen coats I used the finish straight out of the can, after mixing thoroughly (required to get the satin particles off the bottom of the can, I would say 5 to 7 minutes of stirring with a small paint stick). The last couple coats I thinned the finish quite substantially after pouring the needed amount into a small paint pail. Since the finish in the can is of a milky consistency let me use a milk analogy: think of what's in the can as the consistency of the half-and-half you put in your coffee. My last couple coats were the consistency of skim milk with a little water added. I found that the thinner final coats allowed the brush marks to relax quite a bit more than in the thicker coats. I would recommend thinning for the final coats; if I was doing it over again I would probably use the out-of-the-can consistency only for maybe ther first two or three coats and then start thinning from there.I used a good "traditional" paintbrush, a Purdy Nylox "Dale" model (soft bristle) with a beveledf tip, 2-1/2" wide. GF recommends a foam brush. I can't comment on this as I did not try it, but for sure the brush marks were my biggest issue. This is why I attempted the thinning (successfully, as it turned out) described above. I am not a fan of foam brushes but would have tried one had the thinning not worked.I sanded between coats using successively finer grits. 320 on the first couple coats, then 400, then 600, 800, and finally 1000 automotive paper prior to the last couple coats. As others have observed here, this finish dries completely quite quickly. In my case I left most coats to dry at least 8 hours and by that time the sanding produced a fine white powder with no stickiness at all. This was easily cleaned with a brush-equipped shop vac followed up by a tack cloth. (BTW I did use the cheapie oil-based tack cloths you can pick up at Lowes with no oil-vs-water problems.)I also used this finish an a couple of maple plywood shelves with solid maple edging for the inside of the cabinet. No issues here either and the color is completely natural. I also put a coat of Butcher's wax on these shelves maybe a day after the last coat - worked great after being buffed out with a wool pad on the Bosch random orbit sander. Will probably do this to the top eventually as well.The things I would be most careful to look out for are BRUSH MARKS and DRIPS. I addressed the brush mark issue by thinning the finish. All of my surfaces were flat and horizontal so it was pretty easy to avoid drips. I could see this being a bigger issue for vertical surfaces, so be careful if you have those or any detailed carvings or turnings.Very easy cleanup with warm water and a touch of True-Green cleaner. I stay away from hand soap for these kinds of things as those often contain various oils. I found little or no VOC or odor with this finish, another significant positive for my in-home (basement) workshop.It goes without saying that this finish is relatively expensive compared to the Minwax at one of the box stores.But the bottom line for me, again, I got what I was after which is a nice satin finish with a natural color maple cabinet top. Would definitely use this finish again.

Another excellent product from General Finishes! I have the satin and flat high performance topcoats and both are user friendly with superior quality. You won’t regret this purchase. I will continue to buy general finishes products to achieve my desired results.

I have been a serious hobbyist woodworker for over 55 years. I build larger pieces and like to spray my finishes in a spray booth of my own construction. I avoid solvent based finishes for environmental and safety reasons. For decades I used Moser's Simple Success and liked it very much. Then, one day, I could no longer find it. I did some research online and found that General Finishes High Performance was well regarded by woodworkers who seemed to know what they were talking about. It is not as easy to use as Simple Success, but it is an acceptable substitute. It flows on well, but does not flow out as well as I would like. I do not get those glass smooth coats Simple Success produced, but one can sand it flat to produce a nice feeling finish. I found that sanding sponges work better than sandpaper on this product, but sponges are not available in the variety of grits you can get with sandpaper. So, I sand the first two coats with a 400 grit sponge (blowing the dust out of it frequently) and the second two coats with a 1000 grit sponge. If the sponge is thin, be sure to back it with a sanding block if you want a flat and level finish. Wet sanding does not work well with this product, which is a disappointment. With each successive coat, I sand a little less and sand the last coat VERY little; just enough to remove the dust nibs. With so much sanding, I have been unable to get a very high gloss, even with a couple coats of paste wax, but the resulting finish looks and feels very nice. I am only on my second gallon, so it is difficult to speak to durability, but it appears to be a nice hard finish. Given that Simple Success is no longer available, if you are dedicated to waterborne finishes, as I am, there does not appear to be a better product available. With that caveat, I do recommend it.

This is a great to coat for furniture that has been painted with milk or chalk paint. I have a dining room table I used this on in 2020 and it still looks just like it did when I first painted.