Nonreactive topcoat under neoprene?

[ClassAct]

Gentles:

I'm repurposing a kitchen table into a vaulted game table. The vault will be stained and have a topcoat of some sort. The vault floor will be covered by a removable cloth-backed neoprene (think mouse pad). I expect the neoprene to live in the vault, and be removed only for vacuuming out the vault.

In the deep, dark, distant past, I've had bad experiences with carpet padding and other synthetic materials reacting with top coats found on hardwood flooring -- sticking to the floor, leaving discoloration marks, or bits of the material sticking to the floor. I'd like to avoid this, even though my table isn't exactly a piece of fine woodworking. Neoprene is supposed to be relatively inert (thanks, Wikipedia!), and in my years of being an IT nerd I don't recall a mouse pad ever sticking to a desktop.

As I'm new to the world of wood finishing, I did a bit of research and here are my thoughts:

• Use a topcoat like Minwax Wipe-On Poly or General Finishes Arm-R-Seal. If there's any reactivity, sand out the damage and then apply shellac.
• Apply a shellac top coat, watch for reactivity etc.

Additional info: I'll be using GF's gel stain on the whole table. I also don't have a time frame for getting this done, so the table can sit for days or weeks between coats. Shop is heated 24/7 to 70 degrees (47 kilohectares for you metric users) with a mostly stable relative humidity.

Any and all feedback welcome!

--Mike

[CandorLush]

I will be following because I have had the same kind of issue with the Rockler Bench Cookies

[ClassAct]

Hmm, no ideas from the group mind? Maybe my question should have been more vague.

Candor, how fast do the bench cookies start adhering to the surface, and what type of surface(s) treatment? You and I can get some more data and maybe come up with general guidelines....

I'm not a chemist and so I don't really have a handle on how things interact. My first guess is that even trace amounts of VOCs have the potential to act as a solvent over time on other VOC-emitting compounds such as varnish. My second guess is that shellac uses alcohol as a solvent, which evaporates faster than petroleum-based solvents.

Bottom line: I have no idea what to do. Guess that's part of the fun (for very large values of fun).

 

[MattSC]

Just brain storming, this is totally an unqualified remark, but perhaps you could put a barrier between the neoprene and the vault bottom like some kind of backer board? Think like melamine or acrylic or hardboard? Probably not an option for the bench cookie though.  Ill keep mulling it over.

[BonPacific]

On 2/7/2017 at 8:22 AM, CandorLush said:

I will be following because I have had the same kind of issue with the Rockler Bench Cookies

I'm pretty sure those bench cookies use rubber, not neoprene, that might explain the issue. I've certainly had similar problems with foam-rubber drawer liners.

In terms of the original question, if you have genuine neoprene, I don't think it will be an issue. Any film-finish that dried hard should work.

I would definitely recommend a test. Coat a couple test pieces, get some cheap mouse-pads or (better yet) offcuts from your main piece, and leave them sitting ontop of one another in the sun for a couple weeks. Put one in a dry location, and the other in a wet location, see if anything happens.

[ClassAct]

BP, I've definitely got scrap wood available. When in doubt, do science!

BTW, what are you talking about, putting the test pieces in sun for a couple of weeks? This is Seattle! We have a freestanding gas fireplace in our house, so I can put the scraps near that for some faux accelerated passage-of-time action.