need help in buffing out lacquer

[Don Meyer]

I finished up a hollow form and finished it with 5 coats of Deft clear gloss lacquer out of a spray can. It has been sitting on a buffet table in my dining room for the past 8 days. I went to buff it out on my Beall buffing system and I remembered reading several other threads that some finishs need to be done with a very light touch so that the heat from buffing does not melt the finish. I could not remember if lacquer was one of those finishs so I began buffing with the red tripoli with what I thought was a very light touch. To my dismay when I looked at a few places I had worked on there were a couple of spots that looked like when you sand through the fresh top coat of a poly finish down to the previous coat. I stopped to evaluate on what to do and the only course of action I could think of was to try and even things out by buffing things out evenly with the white diamond compound. The results were not good so I went and sanded the piece by hand again from 150 grit through 600 grit and recoating with 4 coats of the lacquer again. The finish did come out smooth and glossy again. Does anyone have any hints on what I may have done wrong. I have used lacquer on other turnings but this is the first time I have tried to buff a piece out. I don't know if lacquer goes bad but I only purchased these cans from WC last October.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Don,
Personally, I believe a power buff using either white or red compound generated too much heat for lacquer. I use a catalyzed lacquer because I know it will cure very hard though not nearly as hard as poly. The curing may take a week or two. In fact, I wait up to a month to begin rubbing out the finish. I test by sanding lightly in an obscure area and make sure the sanding produces dust, not peels. If I did a good job and the finish is level, no orange peel or bumps, I use Abralon lubricated with mineral oil working from 1000 to 4000 grit. If I want an even higher gloss I use a finishing compound meant for automobile finishes, something like Meguiar's Swirlx, followed by protective wax.
faust

[John Keeton]

Don, Faust has some good comments. I would add this - the Deft spray lacquer has very little in the way of solids, so five coats will not create much of a "build" - particularly when you start buffing with tripoli. If you want to do with lacquer, you probably should lay on several more coats - or, try the brush on Deft. You may need to level it by sanding prior to spraying on a couple of finish coats, but the result will be a much thicker finish.

[robert baccus]

John and Faust are right on. the rattlecans are heavily thinned and build slowly. the brush on is little better but retarder is used to aid flowout with a brush. it can be sprayed in spite of the can directions. just allow for the retarder addition. this makes for expensive laquer either way. working down laquer is like sanding. i apply SS and sand with 180 until level switch to laq building a good coat that can be worked down. it could easily take 10 coats of laq. RC. now a 5 minute wet sand with a 220 sponge pad and it should be level.. then 5 minutes with a wet pad and megular #5 compound and you have a nice semigloss finish. if gloss is wanted go to a #2 or #3compound spun on with a wet pad--keep it wet and spin it up. wipe off and correct if necessary. i prefere to use auto liquid wax with a tiny amount of fine compound and spin it on. keep you sanding and compounding wet with a spray bottle. retarder is but a slowdrying laq. thinner that allows moisture toleave and let the laq. dry slower and flow out. i do buff smaller pieces but usually charge my wheels with liquid car buffing compounds. being a cream they seldom burn finishes.

[Don Meyer]

I would like to thank all of you for your responses. It appears that I may need more coats of finish and a longer curing time. I hope these pictures come out ok . This is a piece of cherry that I wanted topop the grain on before finishing it but the only oil I had was Watco Danish oil with walnut stain in it so it came out darker than I wanted. The piece is about 7.5 inchs tall by about 5 inchs in diameter. This is the piece after I resanded it and recoated it with 5 coats of lacquer. It did crack while drying so I got to try out some turquoise inlay in the crack

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Don,
Before you go much further, you need to figure out why that cherry form cracked. Usually the culprit is leaving the walls too thick or turning an uneven wall thickness. Maybe you should have let the unfinished form live in a paper bag a couple weeks then on a shelf a couple more. Thin wall forms dry quickly. Only when dry can you properly sand. Good surface preparation is the beginning of a good finish, no matter what the finish material. If you want to use a coat of oil to "pop" the grain, I usually wait until after drying and good sanding. Then the oil has to set until really dry. Danish oil takes too long for me. I use BLO. Then good finishing sense tells us to use a coat of shellac between the oil and the lacquer. Don't get discouraged. This is all part of the fun.
faust

[John Coloccia]

FWIW, a typical guitar finish schedule will build somewhere around 10 coats of lacquer, maybe 3 or 4 coats per day (15 or more coats for something like EM6000). Then it's typically set aside for several weeks, sanded flat, and buffed. The thing you really need to watch for is applying too many coats too quickly. You will trap solvent and then it will take forever and a day to dry.

[Don Meyer]

Faust
I rough turned this piece to 3/4 inch thick and soaked it in DNA for two days and wrapped it in a grocery bag and had it sitting on a shelf in my house for two months. This is only my fouth or fifth piece so it is quite possible that the walls were not of consistent thickness. I am still learning how to use and set up my laser system on my Monster hollowing system. This piece cracked while sitting on my shelf and I wanted to complete it for practice and experience. I also found out I need some more work on using the inlace material I purchased.