# How to do a lacquer finish?



## DrillingThrough (Apr 29, 2014)

I will need to finish my stave drum soon, which is made of white Oak. As the wood looks pretty good, my plan is to show off it's natural look. I want to just do a lacquer finish (no staining etc.). I have a few questions.

How do I clean it before painting (remove sanding dust etc.). Getting water near it will probably be a very bad idea. Can I use something like alcohol or should I just use a dry cloth?

Do I need special lacquer for wood? I have a can of lacquer that I used on my car a while back, is this fine? Does wood use special lacquer? Does the lacquer go straight on bare wood or do I need any kind of primer first?

Is spray lacquer worth the hassle? Spraying would give a thinner coat, but I don't really need it thin and I will wet sand it once I've finished.


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

For all of my projects...since the 1980's...I have used Deft Clear Wood Finish. It doesn't yellow the wood. My ex was a tole painter and I would spray the finished product. No runs or smears or yellowing of the white acrylic paint.

The can says it is a brushing lacquer but I have always sprayed it.

There should be more suggestions coming soon.

Hope this helps.
Good luck.
Mike


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Your projects look great Mike . Thanks for sharing this as some time this winter I'm building a coffee table .
Now I have to google tole painter as I've never heard that term in Canada lol.

We do have those toles (I think there called ) where you pay to use the parks.

Update : Painting tole booths and tole painting look like two different things lol .
Actually I think there called toll booths come to think of it


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

For Whom the Belle Toles?


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## del schisler (Feb 2, 2006)

DrillingThrough said:


> I will need to finish my stave drum soon, which is made of white Oak. As the wood looks pretty good, my plan is to show off it's natural look. I want to just do a lacquer finish (no staining etc.). I have a few questions.
> 
> How do I clean it before painting (remove sanding dust etc.). Getting water near it will probably be a very bad idea. Can I use something like alcohol or should I just use a dry cloth?
> 
> ...


i spray loacquer all the time, HVLP system, i use a sanding sealer, but you can do with out it, if you are not set up for spraying all the time, do one coat and feal the finish and it will be ruff, sand with 400 is what i use , knock the ruffness off and spray again , it should be smooth, what a sanding sealer does is seal the grain and raise the grain up that is what you feal when it feal's ruff, you can get spray can's of lacquer that will work, i don't know what store's you have , go check and ask, i just use a dry rag and wipe and also i use my air hose also, don't wet sand after, water and lacquer don't mix, get the finish in the can that you want. don't wet sand


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Is a lacquer finish the best choice for a stave drum??? as opposed to say a Poly finish?


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## Dr Neon (Apr 15, 2010)

Hi Mike. I have used Deft for years. Love it. With the brushing lacquer, smooth the surface, then put a thin coat on with a foam brush, when dry (1/2 hour?) rub it out (with the grain) with # 4 ought steel wool. Do it again, and as many times as you like (I put four coats on my reproduction Eames chair) and after the last steel wool effort, buff it with an old terrycloth towel. Use the Satin level finish. Spray Deft is the same story, although the coats will be thinner, and dry faster. Looks, and feels, sweet. Enjoy. Tim


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## bowdean (May 7, 2014)

one thing to remember, you can put poly on lac but cant put lac on poly. later bowdean


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## del schisler (Feb 2, 2006)

DrillingThrough said:


> I will need to finish my stave drum soon, which is made of white Oak. As the wood looks pretty good, my plan is to show off it's natural look. I want to just do a lacquer finish (no staining etc.). I have a few questions.
> 
> How do I clean it before painting (remove sanding dust etc.). Getting water near it will probably be a very bad idea. Can I use something like alcohol or should I just use a dry cloth?
> 
> ...


i didn't read any other post's yet, don't wet sand after , lacquer doesn't like water ,i spray lacquer all the time, you can get spray can's ? if so i don't know what kind of supply houses over their you have , any good paint supply places should have lacquer for wood spraying , if so get some lacquer thinner and wipe the drum down , sound's like you don't have a spray system ? than you are going to be using can's, i don't belive they have a sanding sealer ? if so get that first, spray that on let dry , this will raise the grain fibers up somewhat now sand with a high grit , i use 400 buy any grit around that will work , you just want a smooth feel now , don't sand much just enough to get a smooth feel, now the finish coat's go on , you can feel the finish if any fibers are their just a lite sand again, now the next coat should be smooth to the feel, i wouldn't do more than 3 coat's of finish , after if you feel any fiber's again it shouldn't be very many , i use shop rag and just like polish with just the rag that will take care of that, , make sure the rag doesn't have any thing on it , use a new rag. this is how i do mine, only i use a HVLP sprayer and not can's , i spray lot's of lacquer tho good luck


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## mstrfnsh (Aug 19, 2013)

The spray can lacquers are more thinner than finish so plan on using a lot of cans. I use a 2 part plus thinner varnish for finishing gun stocks, it is easy to spray and holds up very well,if you have spray equipment and a spray mask.


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## Al B Thayer (Jun 2, 2014)

TwoSkies57 said:


> Is a lacquer finish the best choice for a stave drum??? as opposed to say a Poly finish?


Pretty sure lacquer is the only finish used on musical instruments. Poly just wouldn't look near as well. Also much harder to get right.

Al


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## Al B Thayer (Jun 2, 2014)

DrillingThrough said:


> I will need to finish my stave drum soon, which is made of white Oak. As the wood looks pretty good, my plan is to show off it's natural look. I want to just do a lacquer finish (no staining etc.). I have a few questions.
> 
> How do I clean it before painting (remove sanding dust etc.). Getting water near it will probably be a very bad idea. Can I use something like alcohol or should I just use a dry cloth?
> 
> ...


Drilling
I would sand it down to a fine grit and get it as perfect as you can. The finish will magnify any dents scratches.

If you want to spray it with a can. Clean off the dust with a tack cloth and spray light coats. Sand as needed. Using light coats your going to need at least 6 to 10 coats. Let it cure for a few weeks and rub it out.

You can spray automotive lacquer on wood. One coat of a spray sealer will make the first coat sand easy and save a lot of material.

Al


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## DrillingThrough (Apr 29, 2014)

I finished the lacquering before these recent posts. I did a few coats of sanding sealer followed by a few coats of lacquer (both water based). I sanding between coats and wets sanded the final one with very fine sand paper, followed by polish.

It's not a perfectly smooth finish, but I'm happy with it. The roughness comes from the grain. On the inside I can feel and see pretty deep grain, which looks quite nice. The outside was sanded more so it's hard to see the grain but there's a slight roughness to the finish.


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