Have I made a mess???

Oh boy...where to start. I'm a complete novice but I tackled refinishing a dresser top. I sanded the finish down, restained the top with minwax stain and allowed it to dry for 48 hours. I then used the minwax spray polyurethane (satin) because I thought I would get a better result. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way. I put on a first coat and let it dry for 90 mins and then recoated a second time (The directions say to recoat within 2 hours.) The first coat actually looked ok. But when I put the second coat on it, it got a bit rough, almost like an aerosole film, and a bit cloudy. A day later, it doesn't look any better. Did I do something wrong? Might I have a better result if after a few more days of drying I lightly sand the top and use the brush on finish? I'm desperate fo help....so thanks in advance for your advice!

The best thing about doing something that does not look right is that you can do over.

I would suggest sanding it back and do the top again. You have to consider how much sanding you want to do. All the way to the raw timber removing the stain or just the coat of polyurethane. A little hard to say with out seeing and feeling what it is like.

I never used the spray in a can, only used the brush. Have tried a few times with the wipe on wipe off method, but that was very, very, very thinned out.

It sounds like your second coat was not applied heavily enough - the spray has settled in little clumps so the finish feels dusty. (its called 'dry spray' in the spraypaint trade) Since it's in little clumps, it also looks cloudy (think of the difference between a sheet of glass on a tabletop and a tabletop covered in clear glass marbles). Lightly sand back and have another go, or use a more forgiving application method.

Minwax Wipe-on Poly is very n00b friendly, as well as building up to a finish that a lot of the woodworkers here like. 3-5 coats of it are easy to apply and pretty hard to stuff up.

If you want to stick with your spray can, get a piece of scrap timber and have a few practice sessions - you want to go fast enough so that you don't get runs, but slow enough so that you always have a full wet coat going onto the surface.

Pic of dry spray here:
http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_bas...Diagnosis.html

Thanks so much. Unfortunately, the result that you describe is exactly what I got with the can, cloudy and dusty feeling. I'm going to give the wipe on a try and hope for better things! Thank you again.