Found Dreaming

I'm looking for the best wood finish in a can, i have used shellac, and it just doesn't seem to build up and help smooth the finish, polyeurathane, takes forever to dry. Florida humidity does not help with this, I have tried clear enamel, and it is alright, but not great

Does anyone have a suggestion


P.S. I'm better at metal working then wood working

I have had great luck with the Rustoleum 2x paints and primers even in winter when it is pretty cold here. The grey primer builds fast and sands nicely. Someone awhile back mentioned High Build primer, I have not come across any yet but it is likely easily found at a shop that sells automotive paints.

I've used a high build sandable automotive primer, it dries pretty quickly and as the name it builds up, self levels and sands very nicely, the down side is its kind of smelly so you don't want to use it inside your house. As for polyurethane, I've never tried it on a pattern but I've used a water based polyurethane on other things and liked it a lot, it's also self leveling, it gives a very hard sandable finish with moderate buildup, it dries a lot faster than oil based polyurethanes and gives off very little odor.

you said in a can, which about the only thing I can think of that would fill the bill would be a primer with a high fill ratio. you may need to use a spary gun for the build up that you want. there are some automotive primers out that have a really high fill ratio.

If you do need a spray gun, but don't feel like investing in the equipment that entails, I've heard reasonably good things about these, I've even heard of people using one to put down a gel coat for fiberglass. They're cheap, to find them, just google "preval spray"

Ive heard a lot of good things about ROSTOLEUM TOPSIDE paint. Its a boat paint, so its supposedly very durable, and also is self leveling. Its so good that apparently people paint cars with this stuff... WITH PAINT ROLLERS . Check out some of the posts on http://rolledon.forummotion.com/ regarding this stuff. The results are nothing short of amazing. I couldnt do as good a job if I had pro level spray equipment as some of the paint jobs on there.