Another Lacquer Question

[Troy White]

Ok so I got the bed done just in time for it to turn cold, now I want to spray it with some lacquer but the cans say best reults at 70 degrees. I wanted to spray it in a garage that is un heated. My question is how does cold weather affect the finish and how cold is to cold?

Thanks Troy

[Tim Sproul]

I don't spray solvent lacquer....but I'll relay my experience for waterborne lacquer - Target Coatings USL. I just sprayed some tonight....in an unheated shop. Temp in the shop in low 60's, high 50's. It laid down and dried just fine.

Most lacquers are evaporative/coalescing finishes so in general, cold temps will only make the cure time longer and raise the importance of having an air cleaner running to keep dust off the wet surface(s).

[Brad Olson]

You might be ok if you can pre-warm the finish.

i.e. store the finish and your gun in a heated room and then load the gun and start spraying the workpiece.

If the workpiece is small enough to move, keep it warm inside the house as well and only do the spraying in the garage.

However, I will caution you to do this on some scrap first just to be sure.

[Jim Becker]

Most finishes are tempurature sensitive. Since the lacquer dries very quickly, if you can get the temp of the shop "up" before you spray, you should have a good result. Warming the finish itself, as someone mentioned is also a good thing.

That said, care is required when spraying lacquer in an enclosed space. Personal protection is mandatory (respirator) and you need to consider where else the fumes may go. Even with a detached shop, I only spray water borne for that reason.

[Steve Schoene]

Evaporative finishes such as lacquer will likely dry OK in cooler temps, mostly just taking longer to dry, though this may affect how it levels and/runs. Inside, you still have to worry about the fumes. You probably can't build the solvent concentration to an explosive level from one spray can, but it is wise to take care.

Coalescing finishes--waterborne--may say lacquer on the label, but the way they are entirely different from solvent lacquer, and below a certain temperature will not cure satisfactorily at all. The critical temperature varies, but typically begins in the mid-50°s, so using at 58° might work fine, but at 52° it might just bead up and fail to level and cure.