Deluxe Sewing Center

Today we are spraying lacquer, so I don my "Doug Vader" outfit and prepare to do battle with the brain cell killing fumes of this most excellent finishing material.  As is described on our Finishes page, what we use is actually an emulsion of tung oil and lacquer.  This gives us the best of both worlds; the tung oil brings out the beauty of the wood like any oil finish will and toughens the lacquer to make it more capable of surviving life in a modern household.  The lacquer offers a crystal clear finish that dries very quickly.

I mount my spinning spray table on my portable work bench and drape old sheets over nearby equipment to protect it from over-spray.  A proper, dedicated finishing room is on our horizon, and I'm very excited about that possibility, but for now we still have to do it this way.  I use an HVLP sprayer to deliver the finish -- that reduces the "bounce back" and gets more of the finish on the project instead of in a cloud drifting around the shop.

Spraying goes in spurts; I spray for 15 to 30 minutes until each part has a coat of lacquer and all the available horizontal surfaces are covered with wet parts, then get out for some fresh air for about 15 minutes.  By then the finish is hard enough to turn the parts over and do the other side.  Three full coats on all surfaces will consume the day for a project this size.

Here's a look at the back of the cabinet with it's frame & panel work.  Now we have to let the lacquer harden up completely so I can scuff sand and polish it.  So I'll clean up the spray gun, put away the supplies and call it a day.

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