Spray finishing a built in unit

[Prashun Patel]

I'm making a built in unit for a laundry room. It's a little large to finish with a wipe-on varnish.

I'm thinking to spray lacquer. I only have a cheapo HVLP spray unit from Woodcraft. I've sprayed Deft brushing lacquer (thinned 25%) before with good experience. Questions:

1) Is that product durable enough for a shoebench and coatrack?
2) If not, what would you recommend? And will this product spray ok in a cheaper sprayer?

Thanks in advance.

- prashun

[whit richardson]

If possible for wood furniture/built-ins that will see heavy use and some dirt and grime I recommend a good polyurthane finish. It holds up to the abuse, allows for repeated cleaning with damp cloths and washing solutuions. You should be able to find a suitable poly that you can spray too. The Lacquer while fairly durable is not as bulletproof as the poly. This is not going to be the masterpiece library shelves right? So make life easy on yourself and your wife happy about how easy it is to clean too.

[Prashun Patel]

Thanks, Whit. I'm not prepared to spray poly. It doesn't seem like a good idea from my research. Do you differ?

[John TenEyck]

I've sprayed a lot of GF Hi Perf. WB Poly. It sprays (and brushes) beautifully with my cheap Woodcraft look alike HVLP guns. Thinned 10% with plain tap water is perfect through my 1.4 mm orifice at 25 - 30 psi at the gun inlet. It is very hard and very durable, and the UV stabilizers make it very resistant to aging. Overspray dries before it hits the ground.

[Jim Becker]

I wouldn't change the way I would finish this type of project from what I do normally...by spraying a water borne product. There are a variety of product available today that offer great durability, easy application and are safe to spray in a home shop environment. I happen to use Target Coatings products, but there are certainly other choices.

BTW, I would not spray solvent based lacquer unless a proper spray environment was available, either.

[Jamie Buxton]

Dunno about your HVLP system, but mine (an Accuspray 3-stage turbine) puts out a lot of air. It sprays flat stuff beautifully, but it doesn't work as well inside concave objects like cabinets. The huge airflow blows all of the finish back in my face, or drops it as a sandy finish on the cabinet bottom. I make cabinets so that the back gets stapled on after the finish is done. For drawers, I slide the bottoms in from the rear like an 18th century drawer, after the finish is applied.

[Henry Ambrose]

I don't know the complexity of your project or if it has a back attached but I'd think about rolling on the Deft if that is the finish you choose. Sounds crazy, but I did it once to just get a first coat on and it looked pretty good so I rolled the next two coats and it looked really nice. I used a roller cover made for adhesives with a very fine nap almost like velvet. A heavy coat will level itself better than you'd imagine. This was on two shelf units with backs and lots of small shelves - spraying it assembled would have been tough.

Deft is not real durable and the poly suggestion might be good for this project. I'll spray poly but I have good protective gear. If you don't, don't spray anything.

[whit richardson]

and..have you thought of paint? Often that's a great finish for utility type projects.

[Prashun Patel]

Thanks everyone. Whit, I had thought about paint before I started, but this unit is cherry.

Jamie, thanks for that tip about the air. I will prefinish everything unassembled.

Henry, thanks for the tip on the rolling; I've done that b4. It does work well. I used a foam roller and a painting pad. Both were fine.

I'm planning to spray on a few coats of Sealcoat under the final topcoat. At this point, I think the best might be to spray enough shellac to get an even sheen and then wipe on a few quick coats of waterlox just for a little increased durability.