[morahamy]

We are using oak countertops, and are planning on treating them with waterlox. We have all our cabinets together and are planning on demolishing and installing next week. My husband is doing the installation with a handyman.

We have the countertops, but don't have them cut yet. This was something the handyman was going to do (we don't even own a saw.) We will need to cut them down for length, and make cutouts for the cooktop and sink. We could probably do the cuts for the edges this week at the lumber yard, but not the cutouts

We live in a humid climate and expect it to take 24 hours for each coat to dry. I'm wondering if we can treat the tops and bottoms this week, and then use some other kind of sealant, that would dry quicker or use fewer coats, for the cutouts, since they won't be visible.

Any ideas?

[woodswell]

IMO nothing else will have the same look as Waterlox. In our house we or some of the workmen have used Waterlox for floors and some IKEA oak countertops, Minwax oil based polyurethane for some shelves, Minwax water based polyurethane for other shelves. Each finish has a very distinct look, though there is less difference between the two Minwax finishes than between either of them and the Waterlox.

I would consider going ahead and do the base coats on the flat surfaces with the Waterlox then treat the cutouts and cuts with it when they are done. One of the touted advantages of Waterlox is that lap lines do not appear when you retreat small areas, so that would not be the problem it is with polyurethane. But then you would still have the application time and the time to let the finish harden so it might be easier to simply wait to do it all at once.

[NBeth]

IMO you need the waterlox most on the cuts! So while it won't hurt to get one coat on now, you really need to get those cuts done early and start working your layers in. You might be able to do one side in the morning and the other at night, if you're lucky.