Laquer Sanding Sealer? Necessary?

[Allan Speers]

I'm refinishing all the Oak trim in my house. There are a ton of small nicks, and also areas where paint spills had been removed with stripper, which also removed the original finish. The original finish appears to be a tinted pre-cat, or possibly a very hard poly but it looks like pre-cat to me. Therefore, I'm going to use a satin brushing laquer, and hope for the best.

Because the original finish was heavily tinted, I'm planning to use a dark Oak aniline dye, hand-applied to all these areas first, then do the entire trim in clear laquer.


My question is, do I need to use "Laquer Sanding Sealer" (such as sold by Deft) in order to keep the dye from leeching into the final clear coat?

Also, if I do, can I just use blonde shellac?


-Thanks.

[Allan Speers]

Oh, and would you recommend water-soluable, or alcohol-soluable dye?

[Prashun Patel]

No sealer necessary.

imho brushing lacquer isnt very durable for trim. Ymmv on that. If it were me, i would spot color and use poly. I have used brushing lacquer on furniture and it is brittle and does not resist nicks and scratches as well as polyurethane does.

Depending on how well the woods already sealed you may not be able to apply the dye direclty to the wood. you will need to experiment with using a toner or glaze to hide the bald spots. If you have to make a toner, i would use transtint. If glaze, oil stain or gel stain mixes or even artist colors may make passable repairs. Again, you. Have to experiment here.

[Allan Speers]

Thanks, Prashun.

You gave me the main answer I needed, re sealer.

I know poly is more durable, but on my test piece of molding, only satin laquer really looked the same as the original finish. I tried 3-4 brands of poly, and only Varathane came close, but it still isn't as nice as the laquer. I don't think much of the trim will ever get hit, so maybe I'll just do the two "danger areas" (entranceway in Varathane & laquer the rest.
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I realize now that Dye is a lot more complicated than I thought. It seems I have quite a bit more to learn, esp the option to add tint to a finish instead of putting dye directly on the "bald" spot.

I'm going to start a new thread specifically on THIS topic, and I hope you don't mind if I quote you, there.