Water Based Conversion Varnish

[Prashun Patel]

Has anyone used Enduro Conversion Varnish ? How does it compare in durability to Clear Poly or Endurovar? Do you think it can outperform Waterlox?

I am finishing a kitchen island and my default is Waterlox but I would prefer to spray.

[Prashun Patel]

I went with Target EM8000CV + CL Cross linker.

[Howard Pollack]

Can this be applied with a brush or a pad instead of spraying? Thanks -Howard

[Prashun Patel]

Howard,

I didn't see anything in the instruction sheets that led me to believe that it cannot be brushed. I believe it is a little too thick and would dry too fast to be wipeable. I strongly suspect this to be the case because on test boards, I actually do wipe a little on with a blue towel, and it's a mess to get it leveled. It appears to stay wetter, longer than the two GF products I've used (Endurovar and Clear Poly) so, I suspect it would brush a little easier than those two.

Brushing or padding a flatter sheen may pose other problems. Shooting these are good because the gun (and the PPS) keep it moving and mixed properly.

[Jim Becker]

Can this be applied with a brush or a pad instead of spraying? Thanks -Howard

You "can" hand apply it, but like many waterborne finishes, the dry time is so fast that it's going to be more of a challenge to get a nice even application. I don't prefer hand applying even the waterborne stuff from the 'borg for that reason and they tend to have slightly longer dry times because they are designed for folks to be able to hand apply them. Buy a quart and see what you think.

[Ed Gibbons]

Anyone ever use this product over danish oil. Specs say best used only over water based stains. Danish oil specs state can be top-coated after 72 hours.

[Jim Becker]

Anyone ever use this product over danish oil. Specs say best used only over water based stains. Danish oil specs state can be top-coated after 72 hours.

You'll probably want a barrier coat of de-waxed shellac to promote adhesion.

[Ed Gibbons]

That’s what I am thinking Jim. I plan on waiting at least a week before I do anything.

[Chuck Saunders]

This is my default topcoat. Durability and short recoat times. It is a joy to spray.
Chuck

[Prashun Patel]

John, you've given me so much great finishing advice over the last 2 years. Thx. You have me now considering a conversion gun...

Here are some pix of the installed top.

I left one edge live. The cantilevered side has functional cabinet doors. This posed a problem for adding support brackets. I really wanted some visual weight underneath, so I would have prefered brackets, but had to settle for embedding steel U channel. I bolted the brackets to the slab, and the slab to the cabinet. Every cross grain connection is done through an elongated hole.

One bit of poor planning: I should have sacrificed more of the original board and trimmed off all of the checking. Squaring and trimming the painted end after glue up revealed some checking that I should have caught. Too late now... I glued in a couple walnut Domino Dutchmen.

The jury's out on whether this is easier or harder to maintain than a surface with more sheen. Will circle back in a few months on that..

[Jim Becker]

Truly outstanding, Prashun!!! And it's perfect for that wonderful kitchen space, too.

I don't think that the sheen is going to matter relative to maintenance, honestly. On the gun, I'm so glad I took John's advice and hooked myself up with the Qualspray with 3M PPS cup from Homestead/Jeff Jewitt.

[John TenEyck]

Beautiful indeed, Prashun. The more the top gets rubbed the glossier it will become. Sorry, that's just the way it is with flat finishes. Film finish sheen is controlled by the scattering of light from the flatters creating a micro texture at the surface. When you rub the surface the texture gets flattened out and less light gets scattered. I didn't believe this was true until I went and proved it to myself. I wouldn't fret about it though. If it starts to get streaky or too shiny you can always abrade it with Micromesh, etc. to cut the sheen back down to whatever you desire.

As for the gun, it's really hard to beat the versatility and range of capability of the Qualspray conversion gun with pressure cup. Being able to independently control the pressure to the cup and the spray pressure allows you to adapt to finishes from water to BM Advance. But there are lots so of other options for guns of that type, including the incredibly convenience friendly 3M Accuspray with a pressurized PPS cup.

[Jim Becker]

Yea, and cleanup is a lot easier with the gun I now have...by magnitudes. What I get a big chuckle out of is that I'm still using the same "disposable" cup a year later.

[Prashun Patel]

I have had a great experience (so far) with Target EM8000CV with the cross linker. I am using the flat sheen.

When put on raw wood, the flat sheen not only lacks any color, it lacks any depth whatsoever. It's as if an invisible coat is placed on the wood. I did not want that effect.

So, I coated with 2 coats of Waterlox Original Sealer Finish, then a thin coat of garnet shellac. I only used the garnet because I had it on hand.

My sanding wasn’t perfect. I have some undulations from plane track marks I missed.

This is where a flat sheen is great. It hides almost everything. The last pic shows it drying for 30 mins @ 60 degrees. You can still see a little striping, and in the center you can see where my sanding failed to remove all of the underlying track marks from the plane; there are some undulations there. As the finish dries and the sheen reduces, this should disappear.

I sprayed this with a Fuji Semipro 2 stage. I now use the 3m PPS cup system which is just fantastic for cleanup, and for its ability to spray at any angle. The PPS system is great because your finish stays in a collapsable bag that keeps all air and hence sputtering as the finish is used up.

[Jim Becker]

Dang....that looks really good, Prashun!!! Is that the island top we were chatting about?