Waterborn finishes

[skott nielsen]

I am a new turner and building a shop to support my new hobby. I am interested in spray finishes but don't want to install the kind of finishing booth required to handle solvent based spray finishes. My question is does water based lacquer do well on turnings and could a dust evacuation system be used to handle the overspray from spraying these kinds of finishes. My understanding is the overspray turns immediately to non flammable dust.

[Jim Becker]

Water borne "lacquer" isn't really lacquer as you know it...it's an acrylic finish like all water bornes are for the most part. Some, like Target Coatings USL, do have some of the desirable properties of lacquer such as burn-in. And yes, water borne finishes are safe to spray without special ventilation equipment. You still need to wear a respirator to avoid breathing in the particulates and a very small amount of VOC with some products, but they are not going to cause any kind of explosive issues or other dangers inherent with solvent based products.

That said, I don't know many turners who spray finishes, although some do work with lacquers for special purposes. Oil-based products that are wiped on are pretty popular and they buff out wonderfully. I have used the above mentioned USL on some turnings, such as a large platter and a large burl piece that hand finishing would have been impractical/impossible, and the results were quite nice.