lacquer question

[schellfarms]

I turned a pen from black walnut and needed to have a quick finish, so I sanded it down and applied a coat of spray lacquer. After the lacquer dried, the pen felt like the face of a man who forgot to shave--the grain was raised REAL bad. I sanded it lightly to remove the fuzz and put on another coat and the same thing happened again. Do I need to apply sanding sealer first? What did I do wrong? I really don't want to do the CA finish, as I seem to always wear too much glue during the process, so I'd really like to use lacquer.

 

[DCBluesman]

Walnut has extremely open grain, so yes, you need sanding sealer...normally several coats. You should also plan on several build coats of the lacquer to give a smooth finish. Patience is required for open-grained wood.

 

[KenV]

You can get it quick, cheap, or good -- any two out of three (not perfect, but there are few options for a high quality finish that will be quick and durable and last). Skill and practice makes the good come much easier. That is especially with plastic finishes such a CA or plexiglass -- practice and skill makes a difference in the ease and quality.

Sanding sealer is the finish with additives that lubricate the sand paper. Commonly these additives are stearates. They make the sanding easier, but make the finish weaker, and adhesion between layers a bit harder to achieve. That sticking of layers is less important with lacquer than with varnishes.

Open grained woods need to have the grain "holes" filled, and the high spots brought down. Known as "leveling" in the finishing literature. Note that you will likely need the abrasives supported firmly (not by fingers) to successfully "level" evenly. You are headed towards filling with many layers of lacquer -- and that is not quick last time I did it. Lacquer also needs time to "cure" and set hard. The result is a good hard finish that polishes well, feels good, and wears a long time.

Quick and good --- not in my experience.

 

[cal10simmo]

When using course grained wood for any kind of finish the grain needs to be filled i spread ca glue over the wood use a small plastic bag the pen parts come in slip the bag over a finger and rub the glue into the grain when cured sand down use a sanding sealer then the lacquer thats how i do it

 

[TellicoTurning]

When using course grained wood for any kind of finish the grain needs to be filled i spread ca glue over the wood use a small plastic bag the pen parts come in slip the bag over a finger and rub the glue into the grain when cured sand down use a sanding sealer then the lacquer thats how i do it

Same here, except instead of the plastic bag, I use strips of the foam sheets that come wrapped around electronics... cut in about 1 x 2 strips... they are soft, don't absorb the glue and I don't get glue on my fingers. I don't do the lacquer though.. I like the CA finish, using medium CA.

 

[Chasper]

I fully agree with all that has been written about lacquer, but if a quick finish is the objective I believe that CA is the answer. I know there are those who say that an hour or two or even overnight is needed between coats of CA, but I believe I can and have applied 5-10 coats of CA to walnut, then micro meshed, then buffed and applied a surface coat of wax in less than 15 minutes which is less time that it takes for a single coat of lacquer to dry.

 

[woodtreker]

I use shellac (or sanding sealer) in the first stages of sanding walnut or nay open pore wood... (from to 100-220)... Leave the dust on the wood when you do you first sanding... Then just put a light coat of shellac on while it is turning... (I use 1/4 of a folder paper towel) It pushes the dust into the pores... Let it continue to turn for a few seconds to "dry" then lighly sand... (also sand horizontally with grain) Leave the dust... do it again with the next grit... Then when I get to the 220 grit I use a CA glue finish... I put about 2-3 drops of Danish oil on 1/4 of a folded paper towel adn tehn put about 3-5 drops of CA on the oil... It slows the reaction of the CA glue and also provides a smoother finish as the CA glue spreads... I do this up to whatever the highest grit I am using (some woods I use wet/dry or micro mesh up to 3200)... I use the Danisk oil on the wet dry... I out several coats on the CA pen... If I REALLY want to go further I may buff it... But rarely do I need that...