There is a reason why I love painting and never quite latched onto quilting. Patience. I am a finisher and I like to finish in a day. If a project drags on too long, I get bored with it. Well, my patience is really being tested on these counters. It took a couple of days to get them routed, sanded and ready to be installed, but then I had to put the finish on. The finish I chose, Waterlox, is an 11 day process. 11 days!?! I can’t just slap on a coat and install them when they are tacky? It’s four coats of finish with 24 hours between each and a 7 day cure time. It’s torture for an impatient DIYer such as myself. BUT…it’s really worth the wait. The counters are on day 3 of the curing process and they are so beautiful and I don’t want to rush the installation. I want to follow the instructions like a good girl. I do go down and pet them and look longingly at them, though. The label didn’t say anything about not petting them during the curing process.
Now, if you’re impatient, like I am, you might think that one coat will do just fine. Well, after one coat, I immediately saw I was in for three more. This finish soaks into the wood and it soaks in unevenly for the first two coats. By the third coat, it was starting to look really good, but the finish was pretty rough to the touch. We sanded the bare wood down to a 220 grit smoothness, so I was a little bummed.
See all the bumps in the grain? You could feel all of those.
So, I decided to sand. Some people do, some people don’t. The problem with sanding is that if you leave any sanding marks, they’ll be visible in the final coat. I knew I wouldn’t be happy with them if they felt rough, so I sanded. I wrapped 320 grit sand paper around a block and gently ran the “sanding block” over the surface. They key to sanding at this stage is to sand in the direction of the grain, not swirls, which is why I didn’t use an orbital sander, and to use gentle, even pressure.
As you can see in the photo, sanding knocked down the rough edges, making the finish buttery soft.
Here’s what it looked like all roughed up.
To clean away the dust and make sure there weren’t any sanding marks that would show through, I wiped the finish with mineral spirits. Since the Waterlox finish has a mineral spirits base, it’s the best product to use for this. The counters were so smooth after that step.
(The bottom part of the counter in the photo above was wiped with mineral spirits.)
I applied the final coat on Thursday and they are stunning.
The glossiness will fade over the first 6 months to a medium gloss finish.
I’m not going to lie. It’s testing my patience, but I know Thursday will be here before I know it.
…and before signing off, I wanted to share my latest cow painting. I really don’t have a thing for cows…or maybe I do? This is my third cow painting. Hmm… Anyway, I bought this from Cari Humphry during my visit to Arkansas. When visiting the shops, a wall of (mostly) cow paintings caught my eye. I loved several of them, but this one in particular stole my fancy.
Just a black and white spotted cow lumbering down the road, in colors that are perfect for my house. I loved the odd shape of the canvas as well. I knew immediately I wanted to buy it, but I had a book signing to do. As I was signing books, I was certain someone would walk in and buy it. You know about my paranoia thing… When I was all done, I practically made a bee-line to the wall of paintings and told Cari I was buying it.
This piece was an original, but she also had many giclee prints available (which are prints of paintings, but they are on canvas and artists usually paint over them to add texture.) It was really hard to tell the difference between the two. Of course, I said “gick-ley” like a total hick, when it’s actually pronounced, “zhe-clay.” Heaven help me when I go on my shopping trip to France…one day. I will thoroughly butcher anything I say or make it sound German, which is my default “foreign language mode”.
That was a fun little rabbit trail.
Anyway, I love her. Him? Cari? And I think this cow needs a name. I already have Eulalie and Adele. Maybe we’ll have another cow-naming contest…
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I think she is a “Gerty” (short for Gertrude) … MOO!
Before reading the comments I thought…nope…she is a Gertrude…look at her swagger and attitude…….and Marian needs to call her ‘Gerty’ for short…(you realize of course there is a reason you put her in your office….she will impart much knowledge and wisdom) then I read Molly’s comment.
Doesn’t Gerty like the ‘mature’ cow in the herd, you know the one with all the wisdom and knowledge to impart to the younger cows……the cow all the young, love struck cows run to when Brauregard the bull breaks their hearts…..Gerty, the strong lady who is confident enough to stroll down the lane….. alone……knowing no one is going to mess with Gerty!!!
Euphemia ~ because she’s Eulalie’s Southern cousin from Arkansas.
How about Gertrude…Gertie for short!
You can name your cow what ever you won’t, on the other hand your counter tops are beautiful, keep up the good work.
Counter tops are beautiful.
I like the name Eleanor or Ellie for short.
The countertop is just beautiful! So worth your waiting time!
Oh my Goodness! The countertop is so pretty. Thats what I want in my kitchen. All the hard work and the time that it has taken, will be well worth it. Such a lovely stain also. Oh and the cow, she looks like a Mazy to me..
Your countertop is beautiful! I love the shape and subject of the canvas too! I keep thinking of her as a Mia Anders… for what it’s worth…
Beautiful countertops! Just fabulous!
I like Chloe. Chloe just seems to fit her.
I’ve heard cows should be named after flowers….so how about Buttercup:)
Your canvas is beautiful !
I hit the same problem with the grain raising on the second/third coat of Waterlox but I was not as brave as you are, so I avoided sanding. Instead, I took a friend’s advice and crumbled up a brown paper grocery bag ( not a lunch bag as it is too thin) and ‘sanded’ with it, also going with the grain. There was very little dust or grit and the tops were smooth. The final finish made my cheap rubberwood ( a salvage store find) countertops look like a traditional higher end butcherblock. That was 4 years ago and I am still very happy with them and I get tons of compliments on them. Your wait will be worth it. Thanks for sharing the journey!
I used Waterlox on my countertop. It is butcherblock as well. I have had it for over a year now and still absolutely love it!! I only did 3 coats, but will probably need to do another coat or two in the next few years, although I have to tell you, I love the aged look it has seemed to develop already from use.
I used coffee to stain mine originally, and then decided the look wasn’t dark enough so added some stain to the Waterlox on one of the coats. Also, I beat mine up a bit with hammer and a pitch fork…yes, I know. That sounds pretty bad. 
I love the way it came out though. You can see it here, if you’d like. 
http://pumpkinpiepainter.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-coffee-stained-chain-beaten-wooden.html
Counter top is beautiful. Love the Cow canvas. I’d name her Isabella. (keeping with the name beginning with vowels – A, E, I – then you need and O and U (Opal and Ursula – so two more cow pictures). Sorry, I love names and tend to get carried away.
Love the countertops, and my vote for the cow is Humphrey
seems like a male to me for some reason.
Hi Marian, love your counters. I too, recently did my own counters wuth original water lox. I love the product, but yes it is time consuming. One thing I wanted to pass along that I found on the Water Lox website, is that you should wait the full 30 day cure time before using any silicone on it. Ahhhh, so maybe see about that before installing the sink too early. I have an undermount and did the required two coats on the underside to stop warping, so I did wait the full cure time. But maybe I am wring, I will try to find it again. Maybe it was just suggested….
I just looked again, and it said 5-7days of regular cure time. Well, I don’t know what I read earlier, but at least now we know! Good luck!
Ooooooo. I LOVE the butcher block counters, I want some so bad too!… And the latest cow is just wonderful!. It’s so sweet how she is peacefully ambling down the road on her daily walk home. It looks as if she’s walked that same path a hundred times. I really like the shape of the canvas… and the colors are perfect for your house. I would have wanted her too… she represents the perfect essence of what is so appealing about a cow.
Cindy
I do love that cow and the shape. I have a narrow wall in my kitchen that would fit that size perfectly. Maybe I’ll get a gick-ley!
It’s still on my list to visit the gallery in Hillsborough, N.C. where the artist who painted Eulalie sells some of her work. I’m thinking of buying my mom one of her paintings for her birthday or Mother’s Day. She would never spend that on herself, and I know she’s a big fan of your cow!
And those countertops are gorgeous. Definitely worth the wait, but I understand your pain.
And I want to know how you keep your workshop floors so clean. You really are superwoman!
Marion, I see you love cows. Have you seen my paintings? I have been at Lucketts over the last 5 years. You bought some cool cabinet doors (for shutters) from me. I paint on wood, the paintings are waterproof so they can go outside or behind a sink. xo
What about Gertie?
Your countertop is so beautiful! I am very impatient also but your patience is paying off and congratulations on being able to wait. I don’t see why petting would be off limits lol. You’re too funny.
Ps. I think your pretty little slumber cow should be named miss butters or just butters
Emmaline