Sherwood cab acrylic lacquer advice needed - Woodworking Talk

jaros bros. · 09-23-2009, 08:01 PM

First time using cab acrylic lacquer. Very dull, hazy, and cloudy appearance. I have read that it can take up to two weeks for this too cure and for the appearance to turn clear. True or not? It is still pretty tender to the touch mean I can scratch it pretty easily with my fingernail. Doesn't seem to be on that thick and I kept nice thin coats. It did seem to dry extremely quickly even though I tried adding thinner to it to slow it down. I didn't see any date on the cans. I see the shelf life is 18 months. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

cabinetman · 09-23-2009, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaros bros.

First time using cab acrylic lacquer. Very dull, hazy, and cloudy appearance. I have read that it can take up to two weeks for this too cure and for the appearance to turn clear. True or not? It is still pretty tender to the touch mean I can scratch it pretty easily with my fingernail. Doesn't seem to be on that thick and I kept nice thin coats. It did seem to dry extremely quickly even though I tried adding thinner to it to slow it down. I didn't see any date on the cans. I see the shelf life is 18 months. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

You didn't say how old the lacquer is. Sounds like you have blushing. Adding lacquer thinner will make it dry faster. If you thin the CAB, you should be using lacquer thinner for CAB acrylic lacquer.

jaros bros. · 09-23-2009, 08:57 PM

How do you tell how old it is? There was no date on the can. Seems funny to me. Yes, I tried without lacquer thinner as well. Same result. In retrospect I maybe should have used butyl cellosolve? I asked the Sherwin Williams counter folks what to use for a retarder and they didn't have any answers. It's done now, I just want to know if the blushing will disappear in a couple of weeks or not.

cabinetman · 09-23-2009, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaros bros.

How do you tell how old it is? There was no date on the can. Seems funny to me. Yes, I tried without lacquer thinner as well. Same result. In retrospect I maybe should have used butyl cellosolve? I asked the Sherwin Williams counter folks what to use for a retarder and they didn't have any answers. It's done now, I just want to know if the blushing will disappear in a couple of weeks or not.

It's likely that it may not clear up. If you shoot a mix of lacquer thinner and retarder, that might do it. If you have a sample of this problem, try it on that first.

GROOVY · 09-24-2009, 02:40 PM

What about humidity?
I had a project that I sprayed outside and did it at sunset to avoid the heat of the day and I had a cloudy finish, I blamed it on the humidity, ... sanded and recoated later no problems..

jaros bros. · 09-24-2009, 10:15 PM

I stopped and picked up some butyl cellusolve. Everything looks great now. The hotter lacquer thinner was causing it to dry far too quickly in addition to possibly trapping moisture underneath. I feel like I need to be a chemist to figure this stuff out because the people that sell it don't know anything about it.

kreuzie · 09-27-2009, 11:30 PM

That's my take, also, on the help at the last four SWP stores I've been in. They seem partial to young kids who are good at blank stares and have absolutely no product knowledge, short of how to ring up the sale.

As if we don't have enough of this already in the BORGs!

kreuzie

woodnthings · 09-27-2009, 11:45 PM

http://www.woodbin.com/ref/woodfinish/lacquer.htm
Good definitions and explanations.

bill

JW_in_Indy · 09-28-2009, 03:28 AM

The regular SWP stores are more for homeowners and DIY's. When you get into lacquers, and the more exotic finishing systems, you need to look up and find your COMMERCIAL SWP store (where the pro's go). They aren't in the strip malls. The guys there (at least around here) seem to know their stuff quite well.