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Thread: Water poly vs lacquer for table tops

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
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    Encinitas, CA
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    671
    Quote Originally Posted by John TenEyck View Post
    The $15 ($10 when on sale) purple Harbor Freight gravity feed HVLP gun with a 1.4 mm N/N paired with a compressor that can output at least around 6 cfm at 40 psi would spray it fine. There are lots of other low cost guns that will do the job just as well. For occasional use you don't need to spend much.

    John
    I use that gun for stooting stain and sanding sealer and sometimes on small jobs it works well and cleans easily. A little bit of extender will help the finish flow out if you brush or spray.
    Gary

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Los Angeles
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    Gary - what extender do you use?
    I use XIM with latex paint. Will that work?

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,638
    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Gibney View Post
    Gary - what extender do you use?
    I use XIM with latex paint. Will that work?
    I'm not Gary, but I use the GF Extender and not just with GF products.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Los Angeles
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    1,347
    Jim, do you notice a difference in how the finish lays out with and without extender?

    Also - do you ever dilute the conversion varnish with water? I usually dilute WB poly a little.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    65,638
    I never cut a water borne finish with water. That spreads the actual finish molecules out...remember, the water is just a carrier. While there's unlikely to be an issue with a very small amount of thinning with water, it should never exceed 10% or whatever the manufacturer specifies as the limit, but preferably "none". Viscosity is best handled by a gun setup that's suitable for the finish being used. I have added a small amount of the GF extender to a particularly thicker finish like tinted Target EM6500 as well as to SW KemAqua to get them to lay down better, however.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    WNY
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    9,599
    Adding to what Jim said, Extender makes a huge difference for me with some products, especially Kem Aqua Plus which I could never spray well until I added 3% Extender. Then it sprayed very easily and flowed out to a thin, smooth film, something it just would not do without it. I also use Extender with GF's EnduroVar and EnduroVar White Poly; again, the improvement is dramatic after adding Extender at 3%.

    Unlike Jim, I often added water to WB products. Before I had a pressure assisted HVLP gun I had to add 6% water to GF's HP Poly to get the viscosity down into the 45 second range in order to spray it well with my 1.8 mm N/N gravity gun. It cured fine. To spray SW's ProClassic I had to add 18% water, far more than I wanted to, but that's how much it took in order to spray it with that gun. The finish dried and cured just fine, not that I'm recommending you do the same. I eventually bought a pressure assisted gun so that I could spray paints and other higher viscosity WB products with no or little thinning. But even with it I sometimes added 3 - 5% water in order to spray thinner coats. Then I found Extender. I haven't added water since I started using Extender.

    FYI, Benjamin Moore makes an Extender, too, and it works very well with WB paints and stains. BM does not specifically say it can be used with clearcoats, however. It's white in the can so that would make me suspicious about trying it with one.

    John

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Lake Gaston, Henrico, NC
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    8,957
    Here's one that looks like it would be worth a trial for table tops that need to be easily repairable: https://www.rubiomonocoat.com/en/home?country=us

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