home brew lacquer finish, good, bad, or ugly?

I started with Deft brush on semi gloss lacquer finish. Wanted gloss, took what the big box had in stock. After all I have read about finishes I'm no even sure it is a lacquer anymore.

Anyway, needed a sanding sealer here in the deep south to slow down the warpage while I am trying to turn wood. I read somewhere to add acetone to the lacquer to speed drying. Seems to work.

Moving right along I turned an oak bowl. I wanted a finish that would penetrate deeply and leave a natural appearing surface. Added a little lacquer thinner to the mix and some more of the Deft. At a guess, 60% finish, 20% acetone and 20% lacquer thinner. This dried rapidly enough that I could make back to back passes with a soft rag until it started slowing down soaking in after maybe three coats. Gave it a couple minutes, wiped the few remaining wet spots on the surface and then let it dry a few hours before putting a little wax on it for shine.

Looks just fine to me right now. The seventy-five cent question is, will this finish last or is it likely to cause grief down the road on a bowl that is just a sit on a shelf gee-gaw?

Hu
 
Dave,

That is the question: Did I break down the finish or just thin it and have the lacquer thinner and acetone work as a carrier to get the lacquer itself deeper into the wood then evaporate? Starting with a brushing lacquer the original product and even the mix was thicker than the lacquer paint I used in automotive paint shops. Far thicker than typical spray bomb paint and I suspect thicker than the popular spray bomb lacquer finishes.

My concern is if the lacquer is compatible with the thinner and acetone long term. The lacquer says do not thin but that is how most products get around the VOC restrictions so that doesn't tell me much. It does say clean with lacquer thinner but I can sometimes clean with things I can't thin with so that isn't really definitive.

My experience with wood is largely limited to rough work with it and framing so I rarely have finished it in the past. I think that my mix is far more likely to be compatible than many homemade witches brews people put on wood but I was hoping for thoughts from someone more knowledgeable than myself.

Hu
 
compatibility is one of the main things vanishing. breaking down the finish is one thing for ceiling that's okay, you will need to use two to three coats probably 3 coats the best then build your finish up on that
 
That product is indeed a true nitrocellulose lacquer, according to the MSDS. With any finish, and especially with NC lacquer, thinning it obviously reduces the solids in the mix you apply. Lacquer is a little light on the solids anyway, so the extra coats would be a good idea to build back to what you would have had if you hadn't thinned it.
 
Thanks Dave and Fred!

Sounds like I did exactly what I had hoped. I only wanted to seal the piece with no external build-up.

Fred,

Many thanks for checking the MSDS, I didn't think about that. The print on the can is a little too small for my reading glasses and I can't quite read it. After reading about all the tung oil that didn't have any tung oil in it and things like that I was no longer confident that my lacquer was actually lacquer and not something they had decided served the same purpose.

Pretty pleased with this bowl. It isn't perfect but if it lives another week or two it will be the first to get a signature on it. I like the feel of the wood without finish so I'm trying to avoid build up. If I get some shiny coated looking places then I'll have to either do some serious sanding there or more likely keep adding finish until the whole bowl has a coating. I like where I am at, I'll just wax a little. Might be a pretty standard finish for my turned pieces. It is cheap if it works and I like the look and feel.

Hu
 
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