How Do I Apply A Lacquer Finish To My Wood Working Project?
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For the longest time, I thought I would need a lot of expensive spray equipment and a dedicated spray room to get a high quality lacquer finish. My father’s favorite top coat finish is oil based polyurethane varnish. Since that was all he used, that was the only finish that I was exposed to.
I thought that most furniture, especially dinning and kitchen tables were finished with a polyurethane finish. Nope. Quality tables and other fine furniture are typically finished with lacquer. Lacquer is more flexible than polyurethane and more durable. A lacquer finish is much easier to fix if it is scratched, more on that later.
What is lacquer finish?
Most commercially available lacquers are made from nitrocellulose. The nitrocellulose is mixed with lacquer thinner. They are susceptible to damage from ultraviolet light. There are some manufactures that put ultraviolet inhibitors into the lacquer. Check the label.
Types of lacquer finishes
There are two kinds of lacquer spray on and brush on. Don’t ever try brush on a spray on lacquer finish because a spray on finish is designed to dry very quickly. This allows multiple thin coats can be applied fairly quickly. If you tried to brush it on, it would start to harden while you are attempting to brush it out. The finish will look like crap.
The brush on version has a little bit longer working time, but not much more, so you still have to work fairly quickly.
Since the main solvent in lacquer is lacquer thinner, you have to work in a well ventilated area. I would even go so far as to wear a chemical respirator that is designed to filter out lacquer thinner fumes.
Safety
If possible set up a box fan to blow fresh air into the finishing room and have an open door or window on the opposite side. It is not a good idea to put the fan in the finishing room to blow the air out of the room. For example, putting the box fan in the window aimed to the outside. Yes, it will draw air from the finishing room and pump it outside. The problem here is that the motor on the box fan is not sealed and it contains brushes that create tiny little sparks. Do you really want to have lacquer fumes mixed with air being pulled across an unsealed motor that is creating little sparks? You have the recipe for a fire if not an explosion. Not to mention the fire and/or explosion will really screw up the finish job.
How to apply a lacquer finish
Brush on lacquer finish
Use a high quality natural bristle brush, that is intended for use with lacquer based products. A synthetic bristle brush can be used, but make sure that it is rated for use with lacquer thinner. Otherwise the lacquer finish will dissolve the bristles while you are applying the finish!
Work quickly applying a thin coat. Resist the urge to over brush the finish. Brush it just enough to apply it in a thin coat. Because the lacquer finish dries so quickly over brushing leads to a messed up finish. Remember, if there are any imperfections you can always buff them out with 400 grit sand paper, #0000 steel wool or a Scotch-brite pad.
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Let each coat dry to the touch before applying the next coat. The lacquer finish softens the previous dried layer slightly so that the two layers mingle and become one solid covering.
Spray on lacquer finish
The spray on lacquer comes in aerosol cans, which are great for small projects, but quickly becomes too expensive when finishing a large piece.
Spray on lacquer also comes in paint cans for use with a pneumatic or airless sprayer. Read the label to make sure that you are buying the right type of finish.
Either way, apply a few thin coats and let it dry completely. Sand smooth any raised grain fibers that popped up. Thoroughly clean off the dust from the wood project and apply the additional coats.
For a kitchen or dining room table that is going to take a lot of daily use, I recommend at least ten to fifteen coats of lacquer. That may seem like a lot, but remember these are pretty thin coats.
Our kitchen table is about 90 years old and was professionally stripped and refinished about 12 years ago. They put 12 coats of lacquer on the table. The finish has held up very well with daily use from a family of five.
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Comments
Hi Cheryl,
Have you read the article How To Preserve Family Pictures In A Table Top? It talks about creating a finished table top that has photos embedded in an epoxy resin. The Kleer Koat epoxy resin is photo paper friendly.
Lacquer is a strong solvent that will dissolve many types of plastics. I am pretty sure that the lacquer thinner will damage the photograph’s image.
How would I paint the MDF before I lacquered it? What kind of paint. Does MDF paint well. We are making shelves for a baby’s room. Please respond asap.
MDF paints very well. It is very important to first prime the MDF. The first coat absorbs a lot of paint / primer. This is mainly because of the way the wood fibers are oriented.
The problem with lacquer over paint is that the lacquer finish uses lacquer thinner as the solvent for the lacquer finish. Lacquer thinner is very good at dissolved most all paints both oil and latex.
Personally I have never tried to put a lacquer finish over a painted surface. However, you can put an epoxy finish over a painted surface.
I have just refinished my table top and after putting on another coat of polyurethane I realized there were white marks that the tack cloth did not get. Is there anything I can do?
how do i apply deft, a thick brushing lacquer-thinly as the directions sugest. what can i thin it with, what do these prouducts do,-lacquer thinner, naptha, mineral spirits or denatured alachol. i would like to be able to brush the entire surface and wipe off the execess on the verticle surfaces. i am duplacating a cabinet finish over 800lft of trim.
It sounds like the white marks are dirt that is trapped between the layers of the polyurethane. Unfortunately, the only way to get rid of them is to sand down the that layer. Be careful when sanding that you don’t accidentally sand through all of the layers of the polyurethane and sand through the finish!
The beauty of the lacquer finish is that you can use lacquer thinner to thin the finish before applying it.
i need to lacquer photos for my sons school to a tabletop help got to do soon thanks for any tips … Do i have to cover the photos with anything first ?