How should I spray a finish on a piece of furniture I built?
Question:I have a few HVLP guns, one decent one and a couple cheapo's. I've never sprayed a finish before, and I'm wanting to spray a satin finish of some kind on a desk/shelving unit I built and stained. Any suggestions on lacquers, polyurethane's etc that will spray nicely.?
Answers:
Give the water based finish a try. Lacquers are difficult to get that perfect finish for the novice. And polyurethanes take too long to dry so dust and everything else gets into the finish . Lacquer is the way to go if you know what your doing. For some reason the sanding sealer is very forgiving, but the finish has to be perfect. Right tip right pressure, correct thinned, correct temperature, and the right technique spraying it. Runs and orange peel dont cut it. So as a novice i would definitely give the water based finish a try.
Lacquer sprays better because it drys very quickly. Make sure you use a resperator not a fiber face mask.
Lacquer is forgiving as it is easily removed with lacquer thinner even after it dries, it is easily sanded but you need not sand between coats. Lacquer is not very vivid in its popping of the grain though. Polyurethane is tough and is not hard to work with but not easy either. Shellac creates a nice finish, pops the grain nicely if you have a wood you want to highlight the grain on but is not very durable but is very easy to work with. Can be made into a french polish that can be striking. In that you plan on staining first, I recommend you use polyurethane. You may want to thin it a little to spray with HVLP though. My own perference, I like to see the grain of the wood, I pop the grain with an initial coat of linseed oil and cover with poly.
go outside!!
If you want it to shine and go thru the machine easily go for shellac, it won't have a poly odor but it will do a great job, that's all they had in my grandma's day and she rebuilt her kitchen with plywood and after she shellac'd it it shined like new. Course I would shellac it with a brush being careful to go only one way and finish each area. Then sand. Do 3-4 coats. Depends on if this is an 'heirloom', I refinish the old stuff, hand rubbing and all.
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