On Jul 12, 9:47 pm, Patriarch wrote:

I've been a finish experimenter, although seldom with a spray rig yet.

Jump in, the water's fine!!

I decided to try Deft, on the recommendation of a friend, brushing out
the finish. Looked ok, but not excellent. And the stuff smelled to
beat high heaven, although that may have been the family smeller on
over-active.

Lacquer is lacquer. The fumes are strong and dangerous. I won't work
around it for more than a few minutes at a time without the proper
mask and ventilation, and probablly shouldn't do it at all. It isn't
something to take lightly.

The finish turned out not to be nearly as durable and scratch- resistant as I had been led to believe, and it will need a re-do
at some point in the future.

The good news about lacquer is that unless it is some post catalysed
or modified polymer resin based stuff, you can easily refinish with
sandpaper and more lacquer. Again, lacquer is lacquer, it isn't
polyurethane. But it has been a standard in the building and
furniture industry since its invention. If applied properly, it can
be quite durable.

So was it just bad vibes? Cold weather? A reaction to a shellac
afficianado doing brushed lacquer?

Finishing lacquer with a brush is a real art. I can do small pieces
(cabinet doors, separate cabinet frames, drawer faces, etc.) but not
whole assembled projects like bookcases or entertainment centers. You
need the correct brushes, the correct technique, and a lot of
practice. That being said, if you can brush shellac to your
satisfaction, you should be able to brush lacquer as well.

Most of the time lacquer finishes applied with a brush leave brush
strokes, streaks, and layered looks. This is poor technique (maybe a
bad or incorrect brush) and is from overworking the surface after
applying to the project, and inconsistent thickness in application.

Here's where a pad will work great. Get those really short haired
pads they sell in the paint department, and try applying Deft with a
pad. With a six inch pad you can do a smooth door in just a few
minutes. If you book case has removable shelves, you will tear it
up. I have refinished nicked cabinet frames in literally seconds with
one of those 2" foam pads they sell to cut in around door when using
latex.

No matter how you apply the Deft, the manufacturer's recommended final
finish will be around 3-4 mil. (Rememer, a dollar bill is 3 mil - an
easy gauge to keep around!). Application of Deft should be in the 3
mil thickness area, but it is so forgiving, a little more won't hurt.
But it will dry to a nominal thickness if about 1 mil. This means 3
coats, minimum to give a serviceable finish.

Another common mistake is to "push" the finish. I tried to describe
the application times in general in an earlier post, ones that
"generally" work. But the push that ruins finish is when you wait too
long for your final coats. If you are going to wait more than
(depending on weather conditions) more than 48 hours to apply your
last coats, you should wait about 10 days before you start again with
multiple coats.

The way lacquer outgasses its solvents affects its cure rates. Better
adhesion comes when the lacquer is still semipermeable, and there is
free flow of the gasses. When the lacquer dries on the last coat and
begins to cure on the outside, it will still outgass fine as long as
nothing else is applied over it. But if the hard cure cycle has
started and you apply a wet coat over the curing coat, you can seal in
moisture (slight cloudiness or milky look) or cause the newer coats to
not bond as well as they should to the partly cured finish.

If like a lot of weekend shop guys you started finishing on one
weekend, then wrapped it up in the next one, you could have created
some problems.

A rejection of lacqueer on red oak?

Probably not... I am thinking of all the red oak cabinets I have
sprayed over the years.. no problems unless the surface was
contaminated.

Karma?

Absolutely a factor. And unless you practice enough to screw up so
many times that you know it "just happens", it can really **** you
off.

But is is actually that way with any finish. I will exclude plain
polyurethane from this comment - those damn formulas out now are the
most forgiving of all. I have days where I have sprayed (literally!)
5 -6 gallons of lacquer without a hitch. From start to finish.

Then, spraying something like an entryway door, I will have more
problems than I can handle. It is rare, but at this stage of the game
I don't take it personally.

You have an easy way to try your Deft again. Sand your project down
and try to pad it, or better still, spray it with one of those
inexpensive HVLPs.

Just my 0.02

Robert