General Finishes Oil Based Gel Topcoat, 1 Gallon, Satin

I bought this because I read about a finishing process in one of my wookworker's magazines I wanted to try. I needed a poly finish on some custom interior walnut doors. I wanted a medium sheen, highly polished finish. I've had all the typical frustrations with poly in the past- brush strokes, dust nibs, gnats... you know the story. For this project I brushed on poly like always, then leveled the brush work with sandpaper, then wiped on about 3 coats of this gel poly. When fully cured I rubbed it out with automotive rubbing compound and then car wax. People can't keep their hands off my doors. They are so silky, so indulgent, it feels almost sinful to run one's hand up and down the stiles. Maybe even criminal. This product is very forgiving to use. If you move too slow and it begins to drag you can reactivate with a little fresh finish. Even better, let it cure and polish out the defects. It has a low odor, unlike its brush-on brother, and smells almost pleasant. It goes on fast and easy, with little or none of the anxiety of brushing under raking light and all that drama. It cures fast; fast enough to keep a gnat from setting you back a day. It cures hard and polishes out beautifully. It's a little spendy, sure, but a little bit goes a looong way, and the cost (for me) is negligible when compared to the time, effort and materials invested in most of my projects. I don't always need the protection of poly and I don't always want a high polish, but when I do, this stuff is my new best friend.

Excellent product and plan on using on alot of my work

Goes on easily. Dry to touch quickly. Beautiful protection

Wonderful! So much easier to use than regular poly on horizontal surfaces and smooth, even coat.

A little goes a VERY long way. Looks great and easy to install. I’m disappointed that returns are not accepted for the ones I didn’t use (tried to return a day or two after purchasing and realizing I bought too many)

Just used this for the first time on an antique hoosier cabinet I was restoring. My shop is very dusty and small, so hard to keep dust out of my finish work usually. I wanted to try the GF wipe-on because I heard it dries quickly and helps eliminate some of the issue of getting dust in the finish. I did not use the GF gel stain underneath as I have a lot of other stains already and wanted to use a color I already had. I asked a question here about how the GF Gel Topcoat would work over other brands of stain but the answers weren't really definitive, but I took a chance that it would work okay over OIL-BASED stains by diff. manufacturers. I did some tests first– let the stain dry for 24 hours (Minwax and Varathane) and the GF Gel Topcoat worked fine. I went on the GF website and watched their how-to videos, and also went on YouTube and watched some videos by other folks who used this. It didn't look too difficult, and it wasn't. Compared to a typical brush-on poly, this goes on in much thinner coats, so you need to plan on more coats to give your wood the same level of protection. I ended up doing 4 coats, sanding VERY lightly between with some synthetic steel wool (after first 2 coats), then 200-grit sandpaper after the 3rd coat. After the 2nd coat it started looking pretty nice. After the third coat I wanted to stop, but since the coats are thin I gave it one more. The finished effect was beautiful. Almost like a hand rubbed tongue-oil finish, but super glassy smooth. (Not glossy if that's what you're looking for.) I did not even clean/vac up my shop before finishing. I cleaned the piece REALLY well, and used a tack cloth first, but I did not go crazy cleaning my shop first like I've done before the finishing stage on other work. In the end I really could not find any dust in the finish. I used some hi-tech lintless industrial wipes for applying and wiping down, so that probably helped (I get them where I work). Anyway, very impressed with this stuff, and will not hesitate to use it again. It's a little on the pricey side, but well worth it for a finish you'll love.

Instead of tearing out the existing cabinets or paying a professional to refinish them (both expensive options), I decided it was worth a few cans of paint to see if I could do it myself. My kitchen cabinets now look brand new and I've invested very little money into the project!!! The consistency is like semi-melted butter and goes on so well with a name brand black-end foam brush (I used the cheap foam brushes for a lot of it, but switched to a fancy one half-way through and wished I used it the whole time). Because of the thickness, there are no drips or runs and you have so much control. Also, a little goes a LONG way!! This ONE quart did two coats on all of my kitchen cabinets (and I have a lot of kitchen cabinets)! I didn't do inside the cabinet, but I did do the backs of cabinet doors. My approach (there are a lot of different tutorials out there about this, but this was my way): -I took down all the doors and took off the drawers and took hardware off. -Lightly Sanded all the surfaces with a 150 grit. -Vacuumed and wiped down all of the dust and debris. Made sure the surfaces were very clean. -One coat of gel stain with a black-ended foam brush. A little goes a long way. (Make sure you stir the stain really well first.) -Let dry 48 hours. -One coat of General Finishes Gel Topcoat Wipe On Urethane in Satin. -Let dry 24 hours. -Second coat of topcoat. -Let dry for 24 hours. *Repeat for all your surfaces and then put everything back together and put new or old hardware on!

The product is excellent ! No drips, even coats with both a brush or hand wipe on with lint free cotton fabric. Takes a little longer to dry in colder temps but over all I will use this product again and again!

Great product, so easy to use. Love it!!

Top quality

good stuff