Q: I stained a guitar red/brown using water soluble dye. After the stain was dry, I dry brushed dark brown water soluble dye around the edges, fading toward the center for a sunburst-like finish. Clear lacquer coats finished the job. Will the dyes bleed into each other over time and become unattractive?
A: No. Water soluble [...]
Q: I learned the hard way that a thin plastic cup I had could be dissolved by lacquer thinner. Can you tell me what kind of plastic container will not react and how I can tell a container is made of a safe plastic?
A: Nalgene, nylons, polyesters, acetal, polyethylene and polypropylene all have decent resistance [...]
Q: I found some conflicting information on thinning nitrocellulose lacquer. Some very good finishers use straight acetone while others write of using lacquer thinner. I realize lacquer thinner is a soup so there are many possible formulations, but generally I was wondering how acetone might behave differently from thinner.
A: Acetone, a ketone, is one component [...]
Q: How does enamel differ from lacquer?
A: The term lacquer refers to how a finish dries. Specifically, it means a coating that dries solely by solvent evaporation. It does not give any clue to what resins were use in it, though of course, certain ones are particularly common.
The term enamel has no definitive meaning in [...]
Q: Can you apply brushing lacquer over sprayed pre-catalyzed lacquer?
A: That depends on the pre-catalyzed finish, and how long it has been cured. In some cases you can; in others you risk cracking and wrinkling. Because it is so risky without knowing a whole lot more about the particular coating involved than anyone outside the [...]
Q: You make a distinction between lacquer and oil based finishes. Why does it matter?
A: Lacquer, which is a category that includes shellac, is an evaporative finish. It cures solely by the solvent evaporating. That means the molecules floating around in the solvent when it is in its liquid form are exactly the same once [...]
Q: Can I put oil based wiping polyurethane over oil based spray lacquer?
A: The simple answer to your question is yes, you can put oil based polyurethane, whether wiped, brushed or sprayed, over almost anything, including lacquer. For the record, though, lacquer is, by definition, an evaporative finish, while oil based finishes are, by definition, [...]
Q: My painter sprayed lacquer recently on a hot and humid day and trapped moisture under the finish. Having had experience with this I told him to re-spray with lacquer retarder added to the lacquer and to remove the humidity from the room before re-spraying. This worked to a certain extent but still did not [...]
Q: Should I apply a sanding sealer after staining maple? I read that you cannot use sanding sealer under a sprayed precatalyzed spray lacquer which is what I was thinking of finishing with.
A: That’s half true; stearated sealers, which are one type of sealer, are not compatible under most catalyzed finishes. You must have a [...]
Q: I want to tint clear nitrocellulose lacquer to produce a solid, opaque color. What types of colorants can I use?
A: The ideal choice is called lacquer paste; essentially lacquer with a dense amount of pigment cut into it. You can find it in a wide range of colors at the same industrial supplier outlets [...]
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