Target Coating EM-8000CV Review

[John TenEyck]

After hearing how well EM-8000CV sprays and seeing photos of how nice it looks from a couple of members I decided to give it try on an English walnut dining table and bench top. My short conclusion is "I'm impressed." It sprays like a dream, without thinning, through my Qualspray AM-6008 HVLP gun using a 1.3 mm N/N set, as recommended by TC. It flows out beautifully a couple of minutes after it's on the surface and dries to a very consistent film. TC claims 100% burn in compatibility. I don't know if that's true but the coats do seem to melt together. It actually looks thinner than one would expect and I ended up using 4 coats to get about the same build as I normally would get in 3 coats of the GF finishes I normally use. I remember Prashun saying that one reason he liked EM-8000CV was because it doesn't slag up on the needle and aircap and that turned out to be true for me as well. I don't think I've ever sprayed another finish that leaves the business end of the gun so clean.

The finish regimen I used was dye, a coat of Sealcoat shellac, three coats of EM-8000C uncatalyzed, and one coat of EM-8000CV with 4% catalyst added. Adding the catalyst was straight forward; just pour it into the finish slowly with constant stirring, mix for another minute, then let it sit for an hour before using. I used satin sheen.







The table and bench are for a lady who had to have two old English walnut trees taken down. I milled a couple of the logs into lumber from which I built the pieces. There was hardly any clear wood in it. I'm not an epoxy fill enthusiast but there really was no other good choice for the open knots and holes. Fortunately, she was ok with that.

I finished the breadboard ends separate from the field and then joined them afterwards. My friend built a table a few years ago about this size with breadboard ends and the finish cracked right along the seam between the ends and field. When we thought about it afterwards it made perfect sense as the field grows and shrinks about 3/8" seasonally. Finishing them separately should prevent that from happening with this table and bench.

John

[Prashun Patel]

That's a beautiful table and bench. So you didn't have to rub out the finish at all, right? You didn't fill that grain at all, but the surface looks perfectly flat.

Do you find as I have that the finish also seems to linger in odor less than the GF Clear Poly and Endurovar?

I think the 'burn in' reputation might be true. I finished a couple guitars with 6000, and after several coats, was able to level the surface pretty aggressively without any witness lines. I was able to level EM8000cv as well, but I wasn't as aggressive with it, so I can't say if it would have lines had I been more heavy handed with the sanding.

[John TenEyck]

That's the off the gun finish; no rubbing, nothing. There is hardly a nit in it. The grain isn't completely filled even though it looks that way in the photos. I actually like the look of walnut with some grain still showing, and filling it would have seemed out of place on such a rustic table. I only put shellac and two coats of finish on the bottom and the grain is much more obvious.

There is almost no odor to EM-8000CV, with or w/o the catalyst. EnduroVar has quite a pronounced smell; GF Clear Poly less so but still more than EM-8000CV. And I think I now understand how Jim B. gets away spraying it with no exhaust. Whatever overspray I had was dry when it hit the floor. I still like to have exhaust but as long as you wear a chemical respirator you can probably get away spraying this stuff without one without fogging up your shop.

Now I think I want to try EM-2000 soon.

John

[Prashun Patel]

I refinished my neighbor's table this summer with EM8000cv satin. I sprayed it in their kitchen with the windows and doors open and a single box fan.

I was very impressed with the minimal overspray.

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[Tom M King]

This is useful information!! Thanks a lot.

[John TenEyck]

That might be the post that got me interested in trying EM-8000CV. Beautiful. How's it holding up? I need to run some tests to compare EM-8000CV against EnduroVar and Arm-R-Seal. Sort of the cart before the horse at this point, but useful for future projects.

Has anyone used TC's catalyst in other WB products? They claim it will improve the durability of any of their products.

John

[Prashun Patel]

That table is holding up fine. Another testament is my kitchen island. It’s been holding up pretty well. 1 year so far.

[John TenEyck]

Pretty well? Care to expand on that?

John

[Prashun Patel]

Very well. The sheen has not changed. I used flat and it has not burnished . There was a white spot that I believe was the result of a hot coffee cup a week after finishing. But that too has faded away. It looks as good a year later as day 1. And we use it every day.

[John TenEyck]

Well that sounds good to me. Thanks. My friend did a table with EnduroVar. His wife left a hot, leaky teapot on it and it left a white ring, too. It's still there 2 years later, less, but still there. That's what got me looking for a CV product.

John

[Jim Becker]

So glad you had a good experience with that finish, John. You may remember that it did the job for me on that "kitchen continent" top awhile back and that was evey harder for me because I was trying to recover from Kem Aqua not laying down and also having arms that were shorter than would have been ideal. LOL Oh, and that was before the Qualspray gun with PPS came along, too.

[John TenEyck]

I remember you describing that project from Hell, Jim, and how EM-8000CV saved the day for you. I know what you mean about short arms, too. Normally I spray in the direction of the grain, with passes overlapping about 50%. But I couldn't reach all the way across the tabletop very well and also walk the length of it on the final passes on the far side w/o fear of hitting the wet front edge. I ended up turning the gun back for a little lower output, then spraying one pass across the top and a second pass down the length, as far as I could comfortably reach from the front and then the last 3 or 4 passes by walking to the backside. I'm not sure that would have worked well with some finishes, but I had no trouble with overspray landing on the let front side and leaving a rough surface. It stayed wet long enough for any overspray to melt in and leave a beautiful, smooth surface.

John

[Jim Becker]

I was using the remote pot version of the Wagner gun for that job, but it was still a big reach for 63" wide construction with the hosed snaked up my arm and around my neck!

[Scott Holmes]

Very nice... I'll need to try that finish.

[Scott Holmes]

Kem Aqua is still my go to KCMA finish. Going to have to try this 8000!