Q: I’m finishing a guitar in Krylon Special Purpose clear Lacquer over Satin Nickel Metallic over gray primer. The clear coat has some orange peel. I’m afraid to wet sand and buff it because I previously sanded through the finish at the edges and had to start over with bare wood. Since the finish looks good, I’d like to keep using the spray paint and just change the clear coat. Should I get a compressor spray outfit and spray clear nitrocellulose over the acrylic?
A: That’s one option, but there are others, and better ones at that. For one thing, nitrocellulose lacquer is amber, and will get more amber with time, while acrylic lacquer is clear and stays that way. Thus, even if you were to switch to a spray rig, I would suggest sticking with acrylic clear topcoat, which is available from most industrial suppliers and auto paint stores. However, there’s no real reason to go that far. You can simply add more clear coats the same way you added the first; with an aerosol can. With practice you can spray without orange peel. Working in a cooler room can sometimes help slow the set up time enough to give you better flow out also. Once you have built up enough clear, you can carefully sand it smooth and add more, or if there is enough material, simply rub it at that point. Granted, it takes a whole lot longer, and many more coats, when you are using aerosol cans, but you can still get the same final results and avoid the expense of setting up a spray rig. Just be patient.
Michael Dresdner
straight talk about wood finishing
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