Hello there. Good to be here! My name is Jeff Adams and I own Wood Artistry & Restoration. I specialize in antique and furniture repair of all kinds. I also build custom pieces, cabinets, and entertainment centers. I work with both individuals and designers. I recently moved to Monroe NC from the crazy state of California. I had my business there as well full-time, but the wife wanted an affordable house! This was a hobby of mine turned full-time after I got tired of the medical profession and the corporate world of pharmaceuticals.
Business is good, but I am looking at increasing my volume and possibly hiring an additional employee this year. I should have a website up soon as well. I will lead in with a recent problem I had.
I have been refinishing for years, but have had some recent trouble with two walnut pieces. The nightstand has a solid walnut top, the dresser has a walnut veneer top. I was using a Minwax stain, then a gravity feed Porter Cable conventional spray gun (I tried HVLP also) with semi-gloss catalyzed lacquer (used Sherwin Williams and Cambell brands) but my end result was the same.
What was happening is that as soon as the wet lacquer would hit the top surface, it would begin to "pool" or have areas of extreme dimpling. I noticed that the stain did the same thing unless I put it on very thin, in which it would not be dark enough. If I basically misted the lacquer on from a distance, I could avoid the dimple effect, but was left with a matt type rough finish that I thought I could just sand with 280 grit open coat finishing paper, then steel wool with 0000 aught steel wool and wax to get a high definition finish. The problem with this method is that I would need to sand so much just to even the finish out that I would cut through my lacquer into my stain coat in places, thus ruining the consistent color. This is the first time I have ever had this problem. I cleaned my guns, checked my air hose for water droplets, checked for impurities in the lacquer, adjusted the lacquer thinner, and even sprayed just straight lacquer on the piece with no stain at all to check for stain/laquer compatibilty. I still ended up with the dimpling and orange peel effect. I have used this same technique to put high profile finishes on countless pieces including large table tops. Infact, I just used the exact same chemicals and equipment on a large oak table top that was a high definition finish with no problems. I did not strip that table top though, just added to the existing finish. The only common denominator I can come up with is the wood type-walnut. Both pieces were stripped with stripper then sanded with 120 grit 3M paper. Does walnut wood have some sort of property (more silica, or something?) that I should be aware of? Does anyone else have this problem?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated!:BangHead:
Jeff
Business is good, but I am looking at increasing my volume and possibly hiring an additional employee this year. I should have a website up soon as well. I will lead in with a recent problem I had.
I have been refinishing for years, but have had some recent trouble with two walnut pieces. The nightstand has a solid walnut top, the dresser has a walnut veneer top. I was using a Minwax stain, then a gravity feed Porter Cable conventional spray gun (I tried HVLP also) with semi-gloss catalyzed lacquer (used Sherwin Williams and Cambell brands) but my end result was the same.
What was happening is that as soon as the wet lacquer would hit the top surface, it would begin to "pool" or have areas of extreme dimpling. I noticed that the stain did the same thing unless I put it on very thin, in which it would not be dark enough. If I basically misted the lacquer on from a distance, I could avoid the dimple effect, but was left with a matt type rough finish that I thought I could just sand with 280 grit open coat finishing paper, then steel wool with 0000 aught steel wool and wax to get a high definition finish. The problem with this method is that I would need to sand so much just to even the finish out that I would cut through my lacquer into my stain coat in places, thus ruining the consistent color. This is the first time I have ever had this problem. I cleaned my guns, checked my air hose for water droplets, checked for impurities in the lacquer, adjusted the lacquer thinner, and even sprayed just straight lacquer on the piece with no stain at all to check for stain/laquer compatibilty. I still ended up with the dimpling and orange peel effect. I have used this same technique to put high profile finishes on countless pieces including large table tops. Infact, I just used the exact same chemicals and equipment on a large oak table top that was a high definition finish with no problems. I did not strip that table top though, just added to the existing finish. The only common denominator I can come up with is the wood type-walnut. Both pieces were stripped with stripper then sanded with 120 grit 3M paper. Does walnut wood have some sort of property (more silica, or something?) that I should be aware of? Does anyone else have this problem?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated!:BangHead:
Jeff