Instructions? We don't need no stinkin instructions

Then again, yes we{or at least I} do...

Lucked out on the finish for this box I made out of & for the neighbor who gave me all that oak firewood earlier this year....Spray can lacquer from the auto store, clearly stated 're-coat with-in one hour or wait three days'...I put the first couple of coats on the other night while finishing up last minute X-Mas gifts, then yesterday{less than 48 hrs later} attempted to apply a few more final coats...Sprayed the top first, and this is what happened :doh: never seen anything like it before :dunno: It's kinda cool now that it's dried, sorta has that frosted glass texture/look to it. But dang if I could reproduce it on the rest of the box :huh:..Any hints on what went wrong?

Another question if I may... tried my hand at using magnets in the corners for a latch type closure mechanism, but not happy with or just plain need more refining of my covering patches & or technique...do you folks that use or have tried this method, lay down a full length piece to hide the magnets or is there an easy way to make little circle pieces{like dowel trimming thin slices}? I only set the magnets just shy of somewhere near a 1/16" deep...I'm thinking maybe I just need a little more patience in grain matching :dunno:

mini-1.jpg mini-2.jpg mini-3.jpg

Sorry, probably should of put this in the 'questions' section :eek:
 
For starters, I really like the carving. great job. :thumb:

I'm pretty sure what you have is poly, not lacquer. I've never seen spray lacquer with the "one hour or wait three days" recommendation, but I've seen that on a lot of poly.

I suspect the frosted look is because the new layer of finish is not properly adhering to the old layer. Also, it's hard to be sure from the pics, but it looks like it was applied way to thick. It has taken me a long time (and a lot of sanding afterward) to learn to spray only light coats of any clear finish.

Not sure what I'd recommend for a fix. Hopefully some of the others here will have some ideas.
 
Then again, yes we{or at least I} do...

Lucked out on the finish for this box I made out of & for the neighbor who gave me all that oak firewood earlier this year....Spray can lacquer from the auto store, clearly stated 're-coat with-in one hour or wait three days'...I put the first couple of coats on the other night while finishing up last minute X-Mas gifts, then yesterday{less than 48 hrs later} attempted to apply a few more final coats...Sprayed the top first, and this is what happened :doh: never seen anything like it before :dunno: It's kinda cool now that it's dried, sorta has that frosted glass texture/look to it. But dang if I could reproduce it on the rest of the box :huh:..Any hints on what went wrong?

The coat you put on before 48 hrs dissolved the first coats you applied, which then began to out-gas solvents (ie, DRY) while sealed under the 48hr coat. Waiting 3 days allows the first coats to be dry enough that this dissolving isn't an issue.

Not knowing exactly what you used, I'd assume the finish is going to be pretty brittle and prone to chipping from impacts. You could try fixing it w/ lacquer thinner.

EDIT - This is a very common issue w/ automotive lacquers; Ken said he bought it at the auto store. Dunno if spray lacquers aimed at woodworkers are different (less solvent?).
 
Another question if I may... tried my hand at using magnets in the corners for a latch type closure mechanism, but not happy with or just plain need more refining of my covering patches & or technique...do you folks that use or have tried this method, lay down a full length piece to hide the magnets or is there an easy way to make little circle pieces{like dowel trimming thin slices}? I only set the magnets just shy of somewhere near a 1/16" deep...I'm thinking maybe I just need a little more patience in grain matching :dunno:

For a perfect match I'd be tempted to try a variant of blind nailing.
The best explanation I see on a quick search is for the defunct lee valley tool:
http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?c=&p=32683&cat=1,41182
for the magnet use case lift the chip, drill and fill the hole and maybe put a dowel into the hole and flush chisel it to level it and then press the chip back down with a little glue (hot hide glue is quick/fast, but any wood glue with some even clamping would work fine).

Either that or punt on matching and just make it a decorative element with a contrasting grain/color piece :D

Having said that some of the grain matching wizards can make things like that absolutely seamless, never been so good at that myself.
 
Thanks guys, went out & took a couple of quick shots{see below}, shoot now I have really no idea what this is that I used :huh:
& Your right Vaughn, was put on heavily. After the first{yesterdays} coat went on, is when it initially started to react, so me being all chemically experienced from a jaded past, I thought if I just laid on another thicker coat it would burn in and level itself out....Hey, I look smarter in person :rofl:

Well, what-ever, I gave it to the neighbor this morning as they were leaving town for a few days...will check it out as far as durability goes when they return :bang:

& Thanks Ryan, the contrasting plug/cover is right up my alley :thumb:

mini-ClearCoat 001.jpg mini-ClearCoat 003.jpg mini-ClearCoat 002.jpg


Edit: Carving was via scroll saw, veining was laminate trimmer with a 1/16" straight bit,,,slightly toasted by propane torch to coincide with the firewood burning theme thingy LOL
 
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& Your right Vaughn, was put on heavily. After the first{yesterdays}

+1 on this - something I'm still working on but man you can tell the difference with 4-5 really thin coats vs a couple of thicker ones and the thin ones don't actually take any more time to lay down either once you get the hang of it.

Edit: Carving was via scroll saw, veining was laminate trimmer with a 1/16" straight bit,,,slightly toasted by propane torch to coincide with the firewood burning theme thingy LOL

Came out good, actually kind of like the look of the weird looking top coat assuming it stays on good.
 
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