General Finishes Enduro-Var is nice, BUT..............

[scott vroom]

The background is that I'm building rift sawn white oak kitchen cabinets....a project that my wife has been patiently waiting for for nearly 2 1/2 years while i managed to keep busy with paying jobs. I've been finishing 95% of my jobs, prior to this, using waterbourne, mostly GF Enduro clear poly or Enduro white tint base (tinted).

For the current job I wanted an amber-tone finish that would really show off the RSWO grain. My first experiment was GF Seal-A-Cell followed by FG New Pine gel stain. The results were exactly what I was looking for....rich amber tone with some grain pop. Perfect...except I'm not set up in my shop to spray solvent based (ML Campbell Krystal post-cat is high on my list).

It's costly and a hassel to set up a booth safe for solvents so I began looking into waterbourne alternatives that would provide the same rich amber tones as well as the durability of a quality solvent based laquer. Enter General Finishes Enduro-Var, supposedly one of the top few WB's that deliver warm and durable finishes.

I coated one side of a QSWO board with the Enduro-Var and the other with a combo of Seal-A-Cell and Arm-R-Seal topcoat. The differences are subtle but noticable. The Enduro-Var flows out very well, has a nice amber tone, and from all accounts is durable as heck......with one big drawback: after coats it looks like plastic. The heavy solids have softened the grain patterns and the wood just doesn't look nearly as nice as the Seal-A-Cell and Arm-R-Seal topcoat sample.

So now I've got to decide to go to the added trouble of setting up for solvent spraying or just go with a plastic topcoat that, in my view, diminishes the natural beauty of the wood I'm using.

This thread is really a share....and a ramble. But I would be interested in hearing from others that are evaluating WB Vs solvent. One possible solution I'm considering is thinning out the Endur-Var 15-20% to reduce the % of solids....I'm thinking this might alleviate the plastic look. Another thought was to sample the "Flat" finish (I sampled the "Satin" finish). A flat finish may mute the plastic look.

All comments welcomed!

[John Gregory]

Hi Scott

You responded to another thread of mine about Enduro Var
I have used on on a few projects.

Here is what I like about it:

1. Durable, heck it can be used on wood floors.
2. Easy clean up, true with any WB finishes
3. Slight ambering, The projects I have used Enduro Var on has been Maple.

Here is what I don't like:
1. A bugger to spray. I think the viscosity is on the high end for my Earlex 5000. Sprays well on horizontal surfaces, hard to get a no-run, no-sag on vertical surfaces.
2. Costly, $90 a gallon
3. Finish looks more "plastic" than some other finishes.

[scott vroom]

Hi John, thanks for the response.

I figured out what bothers me about Enduro-Var: The amber tone appears to be "clouding" the finish, having a muting effect on the grain. I'm not sure how they achieve the amber tone but I suspect it is suspended in the finish, diminishing the beauty of the grain. And, as you mentioned, there's that plastic look.

I haven't given up yet on WB and will try one of the gin-clear finishes, perhaps one of the Target products.

The other option I'm considering is building a knock-down spray booth equipped to safely handle solvent spray. I live in Northern California where 275 VOC is allowed, which opens the door to products such as ML Campbell's Krystal post-cat laquer.

Hi Scott

You responded to another thread of mine about Enduro Var
I have used on on a few projects.

Here is what I like about it:

1. Durable, heck it can be used on wood floors.
2. Easy clean up, true with any WB finishes
3. Slight ambering, The projects I have used Enduro Var on has been Maple.

Here is what I don't like:
1. A bugger to spray. I think the viscosity is on the high end for my Earlex 5000. Sprays well on horizontal surfaces, hard to get a no-run, no-sag on vertical surfaces.
2. Costly, $90 a gallon
3. Finish looks more "plastic" than some other finishes.

[Prashun Patel]

I like spraying too, but if the clarity is a requirement and spraying solvents is a bugaboo, would you consider a wipe on finish? Wipe on OB finishes might give you what you want if you can handle the longer dry times...?