craig tufankjian
Posts: 308
Joined: 2004-02-01
Location: syracuse ny 13208
 User Profile |
i've read a lot of posting about the infamous piano finish so i thought i'd weigh in. first i agree with every body above. sound like fish eye to me. it could also be the amount of coats used to arrive a what's called a "full fill finish". the ultimate glass smooth top, and not looking like it was poured on.
sometimes a finish such as lacquer can be limited by how many coats can be put on before the finish starts to "crack" , small fissures start to show over time due to climate and moisture conditions. some manufactures have a maximum mil thickness for there products.
that said, i recently did a 30 foot bar top in quartered makore, box match with green abalone inlays, custom logo veneer inlays and about 70 feet of inlay bandings. not to mention the italian glass tile drink rails that were inlayed into the top. now came time for the finish.
i was fortunate to know several professional finishers, both at l&jg stickley and at several millwork shops . the idea ranged from conversion varnish to polyurethane.none provided what i was looking for a far as durability was concerned.
early in the course of the job i installed a metal door and metal door jamb. tha door came pre primed. i dont like painting metal with a brush, and having a hvlp system made spraying it very easy.. i went down to my local auto finishers supply house , pick out a color . the rep told me it was pretty much idiot proof to spray so you can imagine how pleased i was. for 123.00 per quart i was hoping he'd come along with me and do the job. didn't happen!
so, set the door on the horses, mixed the finish according to the directions and started spraying. two wet doubles was all that was needed. i set my gun down and looked at the wet finish and thought to myself, wow!!! thats shiny.knowing that the shine would be reduced once it was dry but hoped it would stay the way it was when i first sprayed it. it was late in the day so i cleaned out the gun , shut down the job and went home.
when i got to work the next day i looked at the door and thought" oh no i didn't add enough catalyst" because this door looks like i just sprayed it 5 minutes ago. this thing looked like a mirror finish, it was also cobalt blue. my reflection in the door was crystal clear not foggy but actually crystal clear.
thats when it dawned on me, BARTOP!!!. I know they make this stuff in a clear coat finish, and whats going to hold up better to water , beer, booze, acidic fruit juices and god knows what else.
so off i went back down to the auto finish supplier. personally i think the sales rep drinks his own product because this guy knew just about everything. he disappeared back into the warehouse and out he came with a gallon of PPG dc-180, a gallon of reducer and a pint of catalyst. proceeded to explain what to do, after he was finished i asked him the 64 thousand dollar question " is this stuff idiot proof?" he responded " are you an idiot?" i said "yes, yes i am". "then this stuff is for you" was his response.
so back to the job i went, taped of the glass tile, and the rest of the bar, mixed the finish and started spraying, again, two wet doubles. stepped back and said "theres no way this will stay this shiny" so once again cleaned out the gun shut down the job and went home.
next day, sweet mother of jesus it was shinier. not one single pore of wood showing. there were some highs and low from inlays and abalone dots but my finisher friend showed me how to level the surface for the next coat. he mixed up a very small amount of finish, and went down the whole bar top with a little detail brush, just filling in all the imperfections. once they were all filled we sanded the bar top with 400 wet dry , no water. this leveled all the little dabs of finish we put on there and level the whole top . this stuff sand in the same manner that lacquer does, producing a white powder. wiped the bar top down , and repeated the same process again, two wet doubles. next time we sanded we used 600 wet dry with water and a $1200.00 jitterbug sander. because each coat only used a quart of finish and this stuff has no mil restrictions as to how many coats you can use we expended the whole gallon. so in essence there were 8 coats of finish. each time i sanded i went up in grit size finishing out at 2000 wet dry. add a little dish detergent to the water to keep i from evaporating and provide the sander to move a little easier.
now i had a perfectly level, well protected bar top. it was of course satin in sheen. but thats where the buffer comes in. makita buffer and two kinds of 3M buffing compounds brought it up to a mirror finish in under 30 minutes. to be sure it was impervious we christened it with beer, absolute vodka, grey goose, and orange juice. and grape juice to see if it stained the top. didn't phase it at all.
so if you want a full fill mirror finish with fantastic uv durability try a clear coat for cars. it will work for any woodworking application.
the drawback, $$$$$$. total cost for 1 gallon of finish with one gallon of reducer and 1 pint of catalyst a whopping $455.00. the 3M compounds were $56.00, the end result ,priceless. i think your padouk project could of been better served with this product. you can buy it in quarts as well. unfortunetly, water based products lack the wiz, bang that solvent based products provide. i don't like the smell either but you cant sacrafice the end result.
like the sales rep told me. "mix, spray, walk away" and that's that.
craig
|
