WoodWorkers Guild of America » General Discussion

1. 

   George Vondriska
   

   preferred member
   Joined: Sep '08
   Posts: 209

   Without question, finishing can be intimidating. It's possible to quickly ruin a project you've got many hours invested in.

   When I first started spraying lacquer through my HVLP turbine system the finish was always pebbly. It wasn't orange peeled, like it would be if it were incompatible with the substrate. It just wasn't leveling out.

   I called the company that makes the lacquer, and called the company that makes the sprayer, and couldn't get any answers. I was ready to spray the first guitar I had built, and really wanted this problem resolved.

   I finally stumbled across a tip (thanks Bob Flexner) indicating that the warm air produced by a turbine can cause lacquer to dry too fast, thereby not levelling correctly. Solution? Thin the lacquer about 10%. I tried this, and the results were perfect.

   How about you? Have you experienced finishing problems? If so, how did you fix them?

   G

   # Posted 11 months ago
2. 

   Yonak
   

   senior member
   Joined: Jul '11
   Posts: 93

   ..An excellent and timely tip, George. Thank you. I had had the same problem and had been searching for a fix.

   # Posted 11 months ago
3. 

   kermitp
   

   new member
   Joined: Aug '11
   Posts: 3

   I am really great when it comes to screwing up a project applying the finish. I think I do an excellent job building the project but I always manage to screw up the finish. So much so that I now have my wife or co-woodworkers do the finish part. The wife is terrific at it most of the time and never makes a mistake.

   Well almost never, Our most recent project was building a TV Table for our Activity center. Everything went perfect until the very last application of Polyurethane. We decided to apply the final coat with a fiber roller instead of using a bursh. BIG mistake, We ended up with a million or more tiny bubbles. We had to remove all the finish and start over.

   When I ask my fellow woodworker in our woodshop what happened they told me you NEVER use a roller to apply Polyuerthane.

   So folks, don't ever use a roller to apply a finish.

   Kermit

   # Posted 11 months ago
4. 

   George Vondriska
   

   preferred member
   Joined: Sep '08
   Posts: 209

   Kermit

   Thanks for sharing. I imagine there was a bit of frustration when you saw the bubbles. Am I understating?

   G

   # Posted 11 months ago
5. 

   joshuaje
   

   junior member
   Joined: Jun '12
   Posts: 5

   Can be tricky, bubbles would be frustrating indeed, luckily you could recover it and start over

   # Posted 11 months ago
6. 

   larrycrowne
   

   member
   Joined: Sep '12
   Posts: 10

   kermitp wrote:
   you NEVER use a roller to apply Polyuerthane.
   So folks, don't ever use a roller to apply a finish.
   Kermit

   Thanks for that tip Joshuaje

   # Posted 8 months ago

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