John Blazy
03-16-2016, 2:05 PM
I'm researching pricing per sq ft of what pro finishers charge for fully filled, high gloss polyester / urethane finishes.
If anyone out there has seen furniture by Dakota Jackson, Brueton, etc they know that this class of finishing is generally beyond most shops capability due to several factors, but the typical piano finish is 100% solids polyester fill / build layer of about 10 to 15 mils followed by 2K urethane, then wet sand and buff. I know for a fact the Brueton uses Imron urethane over Polyester, then wet sands, then buffs to high gloss. Pretty similar for most high build piano finishes.
Its pretty labor / equipment-investment intensive.
Please no posts from those that claim they can do this simply with lacquer / post cat lacquers, because its true that you can get the gloss, but the post-cure shrinkage after a few months always telegraphs the wood grain (unless you are applying 40 coats over a period of a month). The polyester system is so hard and so thick that grain will not telegraph through. There is a reason why shops achieving this kind of finish don't use lacquer. Although its possible to lay down epoxy base thick enough, then lacquer, but the low solids from lacquer is still an issue - might as well do 2K automotive urethane instead of lacquer.
I don't mean to be offensive to anyone with the above statement, but just trying to pre-qualify.
Editing to add: check out this post on polyester finishing to better understand the value of polyester base vs just lacquer - http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Polyester_finishing_techniques.html
If anyone out there has seen furniture by Dakota Jackson, Brueton, etc they know that this class of finishing is generally beyond most shops capability due to several factors, but the typical piano finish is 100% solids polyester fill / build layer of about 10 to 15 mils followed by 2K urethane, then wet sand and buff. I know for a fact the Brueton uses Imron urethane over Polyester, then wet sands, then buffs to high gloss. Pretty similar for most high build piano finishes.
Its pretty labor / equipment-investment intensive.
Please no posts from those that claim they can do this simply with lacquer / post cat lacquers, because its true that you can get the gloss, but the post-cure shrinkage after a few months always telegraphs the wood grain (unless you are applying 40 coats over a period of a month). The polyester system is so hard and so thick that grain will not telegraph through. There is a reason why shops achieving this kind of finish don't use lacquer. Although its possible to lay down epoxy base thick enough, then lacquer, but the low solids from lacquer is still an issue - might as well do 2K automotive urethane instead of lacquer.
I don't mean to be offensive to anyone with the above statement, but just trying to pre-qualify.
Editing to add: check out this post on polyester finishing to better understand the value of polyester base vs just lacquer - http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Polyester_finishing_techniques.html