For the Furniture Builders – Finishing Experience
I build bedroom furniture, desks, credenzas, pretty much whatever the client wants. I have traditionally sprayed solvent lacquers for the speed of drying and how well the finish goes down from an hvlp rig. I’m getting to the point where I want to stop dealing with the solvent finishes, but have not yet tried a reliable sprayed waterborne. Here’s the question that I really want to know from you furniture builders – is there really a brush on or wipe on finish that produces the same even and flawless finish that a solvent based sprayed on finish does? I’m just having a hard time believing that anything wiped on or brushed is not going to show some kind of defect – dirt, brush/wipe marks, etc. I really would appreciate it if you could help me with this, I’m more than willing to try something new as long as it is not a total time suck. Thanks for your thoughtful comments.
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Target Coatings makes a great line of waterborne finishes. I've used their Emtech 6000 and really like the way it sprays. They have a few spray formulas to choose from, based on your needs. It is worth researching if you want to move to waterborne spray finishes
Waterborne finishes are the way to go, I’ve seen the traditional solvent lacquers age for having been in the mass production industry in the 80’s they last quite long but as an amateur woodworker I’ve used the early versions waterborne finishes and found them to go through the ages as well or better.
I fairly infrequently use WB spray finishes, but eons ago I started using EM6000 with a crosslinker on both guitars and cabinets, and occasionally furniture. it's also excellent if you have WB paint as a top coat, as long as the paint is dry and you don't soak the WB paint and cause it to come loose. E.g., wife thinks everything should be done in pastel or chalk paints, but she is a pain if anything scratches or mars. I usually spray EM6000 and the paints lose the chalky look, but I think they look better and more vivid and all have held up better than just paint, or higher quality paint alone.
I've had no real quality issues - but WB finsihes that are one part brush on, and the EM6000 can be used without a crosslinker and if that's the case, it will be very soft compared to what you're used to. With crosslinker, it's hard. it's still not the equivalent of the two part lacquer/conversion varnish type stuff. I have a hunch based on a few little nits here and there that the adhesion isn't as good as lacquer, it also is spray - brushing it doesn't come out very good. You could probably faff with some way of getting it to look decent like brushing a lot on and then coming back and sanding and using a fine brush like an artist brush to minimize marks - who knows. Lacquer just lays out on its own without any of that.
At any rate, it's not going to remind you of solvent products, and if you don't want a cold look, you may want to seal with dewaxed shellac to tone the look a little warmer, but it's a good product and it's not expensive and doesn't have the shrill eye crossing odor. The crosslinker is silane instead of isocyanate, too, which so far is nice.
WB has been a love/hate deal for me. Good advice David gave on the shellac first as WB raises the grain. My other hates on WB: 1) narrower heat and humidity range for successful application 2) many commercial, high solid WB formulations aren’t HVLP friendly—check manufacturers’ TDS 3) more “problem” prone finish when spraying. Renner has been my favorite WB so far but spendy.