Waterbourne finishes for turnings?

[Dan Forman]

Has anyone here used them? There are some folks over in the pen turning forum that use Enduro waterbourne laquer, which got me thinking about Target Coatings USL, wondering if that could be applied with a paper towel as they are doing with the Enduro? I have some USL, but haven't used it for anything yet, maybe will give it a try just to see what happens.

Dan

[Paul Heely]

I use Enduro for my pens but have not tried it on anything else. Enduro is very clear and does not have a bluish tinge to it. Unless there is something new Enduro is a water based polyurethane. Deft now has a waterborne version of their clear wood finish but I have not been able to find any locally to try it out.

Give the USL coating a shot and let us know how it turns out.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Dan turn you a quick spindle then test it. I used some Minwax water based poly and don't like it at all. Enduro is the only stuff that I care for as far as water based finish goes.

[Dan Forman]

Unless there is something new Enduro is a water based polyurethane.

I guess all of the waterborne products are actually poly or acrylic based, but they are variously called "laquer" or "varnish" based on the type of finish they try to emulate.

I know Jim Becker is a fan of the USL for flatwork, hoping he will chime in here.

Dan

[Terry Quiram]

Dan

I spray Campbell's Ultra Star and a product I buy at Lowes called Polycrylic. I like them both but lean towards the Polycrylic. I spray both flat work and bowls using an HVLP setup.

Terry

[Jim Becker]

Turning is the only place I continue to use oil-based products. You "can" use the waterborne finishes, but you miss out on the wonderful things that the oil does to the highly figured wood we all tend to use for our spinning projects. You also can't do things like "push" a waterborne finish on the spinning lathe like you can with the oil-based products. That said, I have sprayed USL on some things where I wanted near zero color change. But in most cases, they still had been oiled for figure reasons.

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Dan, for a really "soft satin" finish, I like General Finishes High Performance. It dries quickly and allows for several coats within a few hours. Also, it sands nicely between coats without clogging the paper.

[Don Robert]

I shoot Target products all the time (both USL and conversion varnish). But I agree with Jim that nothing pops the grain like oil-based finishes. So I often use one or two coats of tung oil followed, after a long cure time (several days to a week or more), by a couple coats of shellac to seal the surface and bind to the tung oil. Then I use multiple coats of the water-based finishes followed by wet sanding and polishing when I want a smooth, glossy finish. Water-based finishes have quicker, easier clean-up and fewer safety problems than solvent-based. The Target conversion varnish, in particular gives a very hard and great finish. Also, the Target finishes don't have the plastic-like feel and look that the urethanes often do. My wife and I love the final product, but I realize that not everyone will. Target now sells a "hybrid" varnish that has some of the same advantages as both USL and the conversion varnish, but I haven't tried it yet.

[Dan Forman]

Not having used them yet, I wasn't aware that the waterbased products weren't able to pop figure like oils do. Hmm...

Dan