[sdiy] Wooden End Cheeks

[Tom Arnold]

On Wed, Jun 07, 2006 at 09:13:30AM -0500, James R. Coplin wrote:
> Lacquer comes in various sheens.  It's about all I use for my woodworking
> topcoat as it rubs out nicely and has a nice smooth feel that is not at all
> "plasticy" like so many other topcoat products like poly.  If all you have
> is glossy clear lacquer, fine steelwool will knock the sheen down to a nice
> satin for you no problem.  It isn't as hard as poly but my experience has
> been that it resists minor scratches just as well.  If you bang into
> something hard enough to put a ding in the lacquer, it would have dinged
> poly as well.

I'm a second vote for Lacquer.  I'm doing a lot of woodworking now as I make
things like end-cheeks and the case for the Box-o-trix ( made from Red
Oak... muahahaha ).  I use satin/matte finish Lacquer.  It comes out to a
very nice smooth finish with no gloss.  It resists scratches well and is
easy to apply and more importantly for a high-dust area it dries *fast*.
The only drawback I see is it does spew forth noxious fumes like crazy so
dont use it in your garage unless you have a dedicated non-spark exhaust
system.

A *huge* plus for Lacquer ( and this holds true for Oil as well ), if it
does get scratched and the wood isnt damaged, just put on more Lacquer.
Lacquer remelts itself so its easy to blend a fresh layer into an existing
layer.  This also means that unlike poly you can easy correct finish
mistakes with a quick blast of steel wool and reapplication of more lacquer.

In general I find that lacquer "behaves" more predictably then Poly.  I dont
use Varnish because its suceptable to water damage.  Now, when I do
something that is definatly going to be abused ( used outdoors, drinks
spilled on, etc... ) Poly is the way to go, but thats rare.  When was the
last time you really intended to use that Minimoog in the rain.   :-)

-- 
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 - Tom Arnold       -  Free Synth DIY webspace http://www.sdiy.org 
 - SynthGeek        -
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