Acrylic spray finish on turnings

Dan Mosley

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1,169
Location
Palm Springs, Ca
Well its been awhile since i posted anything so I thought I would post a opnion on what I think of Deft Acrylic Spray finish. I would not have even tried it but when I ran out of Deft Spray Laquer and went to both big boxes I found out that it will no longer be offered for sale in the county (Riverside County, California to be exact). Then checked all around and found it has all been pulled from the shelves - yet they still sell Laquer thinner. Now only this acrylic spray is available from this point on. The salesperson said it would spray the same and you would never notice a difference (of course when asked he admitted he has never personally tried it......sigh...). So, I bought one can and thought i would give it a try.
First - I sprayed a couple finials with it - it does not lay down like laquer - the pattern is horrible - tried different distances - still horrible - So, I gave it up on finials and thought I would move onto to a couple vessels.
Second - Vessels - still crap - pattern it sprays is splattery and coverage over the sprayed areas is poor at best - tried about hallf dozen scrap sample with different techniques and the results were still poor - At this point i have decided to use it for grain filler until its gone.
Personally - I would never buy this stuff again and consider it junk unless you want some expensive grian filler - If it works for you I think thats fine but I still like Laquer

Luckily I can still buy it online and it will ship to me - until someone stops that to......................Dan
 

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Good to see you back, Dan. :wave: I agree about the Deft acrylic finish. I tried some years ago when solvent-based finishes started becoming scarce in LA County and my experience was pretty much just like yours. You might be able to wet sand it to get a flat and smooth surface, but I gave up on it before trying it. (I do wet sand all my sprayed lacquer finishes. Even though it lays down much smoother than spray acrylic, it's still not "grand piano finish" flat until it's been sanded and buffed.)
 
Dan I have been trying to find an alternative to spray can finishes. IMO the spray cans don't have enough pressure to completely atomize the paint or finish. I got a couple of cheap air sprayers and find that they work much better than anything I have found in a can. One I have is a gravity feed and the other is a canister type, don't see much difference in the results with either. The gravity feed may be a bit easier to clean but it won't sit down, you got to hang it up when done or want to move something. I do mostly bowls and have been experimenting with automotive clear coat finishes. It goes on fairly smooth, very little orange peeling effect, it drys quickly and can be resprayed in minutes instead of hours. I am always looking for advice and someway to improve on my finishing. I really would like to finish a bowl in hours instead of days.
 
Time for a run over to Las Vegas, Yuma, etc., Dan. Pick up a case of the lacquer while you're there. :D

Alternatively, it might be time to switch to waterborne lacquer, and a spray rig. Good HVLP guns can be pricey, but :eek: Harbor Freight has a fairly nice little gravity-fed touch-up gun for aroung $25.00 that works well.

Target EM6000 waterborne lacquer works very well, as does General Finishes' "Enduro" lacquer. My preference is for the Target EM6000. YMMV...
 
Just curious, is it lacquer that is a no no or is it Deft. I have been reading on many forums of the difficulty people are having in many places getting Deft Clear Coat which is popular. I can still get it at my local ACE Hardware store.
 
Time for a run over to Las Vegas, Yuma, etc., Dan. Pick up a case of the lacquer while you're there. :D

Alternatively, it might be time to switch to waterborne lacquer, and a spray rig. Good HVLP guns can be pricey, but :eek: Harbor Freight has a fairly nice little gravity-fed touch-up gun for aroung $25.00 that works well.

Target EM6000 waterborne lacquer works very well, as does General Finishes' "Enduro" lacquer. My preference is for the Target EM6000. YMMV...

I've used the predecessor to EM6000 (Ultima Spray Lacquer - USL) on turned pieces, sprayed with a high-quality Italian gun. The finish came out nice, but didn't lay down as flat as spray can lacquer. Probably my own lack of skill with the gun. :dunno: It did seem to be a good hard and durable finish, though. I know that wet sanding took longer with the WB lacquer than it did with solvent-based lacquer.
 
Just curious, is it lacquer that is a no no or is it Deft. I have been reading on many forums of the difficulty people are having in many places getting Deft Clear Coat which is popular. I can still get it at my local ACE Hardware store.

In California, it's solvent-based finishes of any type or brand that are under fire. Apparently, the fumes from hobbyists finishing their projects are worse than the fumes from 9,254,387,419,553,843 (9.2 bazillion) cars. :rolleyes: I suspect WA and OR are not far behind.

Deft makes solvent-based finishes (lacquer) as well as water-based finishes (acrylic).
 
I knew that Deft was the brand, apparently I got the impression that is was only the Deft brand that was under attack and not other solvent based finishes also. Must be because people liked the Deft brand so well. Boy, I hope WA doesn't follow suit. One thing I have never understood, people move here from Cal. because they don't like all the restrictions and limitation imposed in Cal. Then they immediately try to change thing here like it is in Cally. I just don't get it. Go back!
 
The first thing that I noticed missing on the store shelves in my area around LA due to VOCs was Minwax Antique Oil. Oddly, they still sell Formby's Tung Oil Finish, which is a very similar solvent-based wipe-on varnish.

I agree with you on how many Cali transplants try to California-ize wherever they move to. :rolleyes:
 
I knew that Deft was the brand, apparently I got the impression that is was only the Deft brand that was under attack and not other solvent based finishes also. Must be because people liked the Deft brand so well. Boy, I hope WA doesn't follow suit. One thing I have never understood, people move here from Cal. because they don't like all the restrictions and limitation imposed in Cal. Then they immediately try to change thing here like it is in Cally. I just don't get it. Go back!

Paul ... I just walked into the garage to see what Deft product I use and like. It is not the spray cans but the "Clear Wood Finish" in gloss.

If all them southern CA folks influence the WA residents to fallow after a state in financial ruin I can always take a 5 minute drive and be in ID to find what I need <LOL>

That being said I'm debating whether or not I need or would ever use a HVLP. Seems my son wants me to list and sell a new Fuji Mini-Mite 3 spray outfit for him.
 
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