Finishing -- white streaks

[Jerry Bittner]

Having a problem with a lacquer finish. I first sprayed the piece with Lacquer Sanding Sealer (Deft) and then applied lacquer. Everything fine thus far. Ran out of the Deft lacquer and bought some Watco lacquer from Lowes.
Applied another coat and the pieces have milky white spots. I sprayed the Watco on another piece of scrap wood and it appears to have a milky white finish – see picture.
So I’m assuming the Watco lacquer is bad or it interacted with the sanding sealer.
But my concern is how to I get rid of the white spots – streaks mostly. I tried rubbing it with mineral oil but that didn’t do the trick. And the nature of the pieces is such that sanding does not fit the bill.
Any suggestions?

[Howard Acheson]

It is always risky mixing different finishes, particularly lacquer finishes. Each formulator uses different ingredients in their product and bad interactions can result.

Frequently, lacquers can produce white streaks depending on the temperature. What was the temperature of the air and the item being finished?

At this point your best solution may be to strip off the finish and respray using compatible products.