How to Seal Pine Sap on Furniture

SEALING PINE SAP

Every now and then you build something and then finish it, only to have to redo the finish….TWICE!

A few weeks after the Pottery Barn Brooks Dining Table dupe was built, finished and delivered to its new home, it started leaking pine sap. I honestly have never had this happen before. So, I didn’t really know what to do exactly. So after some googling and researching, I came up with a plan.

But first a look at what I was up against. Imagine these marks all throughout the table and bench tops….

Yep! What a mess! After much research, I learned that usually a good strong poly will keep this from happening. But every now and then you get a pine board that is just stubborn and won’t relent. Apparently, I got the whole Pine tree! 🙁

My first step was to sand; just enough to get a rough surface….

And then the special sauce….

I applied 2 coats of this Cover Stain Primer by Zinsser with an old paintbrush. It is an oil-based primer (oil-based is the key), so you will want to use a brush you don’t mind throwing away. (Unless you’re not lazy like me, and don’t mind cleaning your brush and then cleaning some more and repeat). After applying this I let it sit for a few hours… (Amazon Affiliate Link Included)

Next, I was ready for 2 coats of paint and 3 coats of outdoor poly. After letting each step dry a couple hours in between, the table looked great and was good to go….

Until it wasn’t anymore. This happened the evening I left from finishing up….

With no rain in the forecast, I was beyond frustrated! But after heading out of town for our family vacation, I was back at it, starting again at step one. Thankfully, the rain wasn’t too detrimental to it and the poly protected it for the most part, so the 2nd time around actually wasn’t too bad.

So far the table continues to hold up well with no more sap seepage. Fingers crossed, it will stay that way!

I’ll keep you posted.

PIN IT FOR LATER….