Mantel Complete and Mounted

[lincmercguy]

20 years ago, I was a junior in high school, lol.

I read up on spraying poly a whIle ago, but I seem to remember that you had to keep a really clean environment and protect all surfaces. Lacquer that hits the floor is dust by the time it hits. How does spraying those products compare?

My current shop is the garage below my kids' bedrooms. I crack the garage doors for ventilation (and wear a mask), but if I open the doors fully, I get dust and bugs. This isn't an issue for lacquer, but would those products stand up to that?

What type of sprayer so you use? I use the cheap HF HVLP guns for tint and lacquer. I might be able to cracks open the wallet for a third for poly to try.

[Phil Thien]

A substantial upgrade, looks great!

[atgcpaul]

Very nice mantel.  Looks a lot more appropriate for that space.  Nice picture taking, too.

Endurovar sprays and brushes on very nicely.  Although I prefer to spray it with my Earlex, I don't keep my shop dust free enough.  I will sometimes set it up outside to spray and try to take it inside ASAP.  Bugs really seem attracted to it.  For small projects recently, I've been using a foam brush.  Clean up is a lot easier that way.  I don't see any streaks like I would with an oil based poly brushed out of the can.  It will run/sag on vertical surfaces so you have to brush lightly there.  The smell of oil poly lingers forever.  The Endurovar stops smelling after a day or so and I can definitely brush on at least 2 coats in a day.

[jteneyck]

So how do you keep dust and bugs out of a brushed on oil based poly?  Waterbased products are dry to the touch in 20 to 30 minutes so if you don't have problems with oil based products you won't with waterbased either. 

Lots of folks spray WB with no spray booth.  I don't, but if you put paper or plastic on the floor and cover anything of importance over spray won't be a problem.  As long as you have enough air flow to keep overspray from landing on your work you can get great results.  Having said that, real exhaust is better and if your kids bedrooms are directly above where you spray I would have an exhaust system.  

The cheap purple HF gun with a 1.4 N/N will spray both the GF products I mentioned very well.  You may need to add about 5% water to get a good flow, but I've used that gun with EnduroVar more than once and it sprays it very well.  No reason to spend money to try it. 

John

[lincmercguy]

I keep the dust out with a really thorough cleaning before starting and keep the bugs out by making sure the doors are closed before dark. If I'm spraying, I'm more likely to kick stuff up than brushing.

I'll probably wait until I can get a building up and get out of the garage, but I'll give it a shot once I do. Can't hurt to try. How many coats do you end up applying?

[Steve N]

I brush and hand wipe finish most of the time. I do have an HVLP system, but the set up, and clean up take longer than the finish application. I do the same, thorough cleaning the piece, and the immediate area, close the doors, and get it done. Not too long ago it was the only game in town, looking at old pieces they are just as clean looking as sprayed on modern day ones, it's just the actual finishes have improved so much. The only time that I see a huge difference is when a spray technician lays on a built up finish, that has a lot of depth, just a coat or two, I see no difference.

You still have to sand down between coats because there are bubbles, and nubs even when sprayed. I go with the finest grit I have handy. I'm not looking for grooves in the finish, just a flatter, smoother feel. I'll continue that through usually 3, but up to 6 coats, and after everything I'm going to put on is well dried I go back over it with a paper bag, cut into 4x4" squares, and go over everything polishing it down. I can see a HUGE difference before the bag, and after. I've never had anyone say, uhhhhhh dood I'm not going to take this wooden gift. Lokkit all the finishing mistakes.

Oh BTW. I really like the mantle

[jteneyck]

I usually spray a coat of SealCoat shellac before any WB finish because it eliminates grain raising issues.  It also reduces the number of finish coats required, and since that is more expensive than SealCoat it helps save a little money.  On most woods I spray one coat of shellac and two coats of finish.  Sometimes, however, I've had to spray up to 4 finish coats.  It just depends on how porous and thirsty the wood is and whether I'm looking for a perfectly flat finish or want the pores to show through. 

And with all due respect to my esteemed colleagues, if you can't spray a better finish than you can apply with a brush you need more practice with your spray gun.  A well sprayed finish will be uniform in thickness and sheen and free of nibs directly off the gun, and need no further work.  I've seen perfect hand applied finishes, too, but they require a lot of work after the finish is dry to get that flat, smooth, perfect look and feel.  Just thinking of doing that on a whole kitchen's worth of cabinets makes my head hurt.  

John