I Really Dislike Finishing

[garys]

First let me make things plain. I don't paint. Paint is for metal and plastic, but not for wood.

I truly enjoy finishing my wood projects when I get to that point. Staining is fun. It brings out the beauty of the wood. Putting the urethane finish on is even more fun because I get to see the full beauty of the wood.

Remember. Painting hardwood is a felony.
Painting soft woods is a misdemeanor.

[dusty]

I understand the distinctions you make between painting, staining and finishing but that does not change my opinion. I dislike those final steps no matter what the application.

If you would come to my shop you would see evidence of that everywhere.

Here on the forum you can see it in projects like my outfeed table and sliding crosscut table -- they were "finished" without finish.

I'm not good at it because I avoid it whenever possible. I avoid it whenever possible because I am not good at it.

[camerio]

Get a small gravity feed spray gun ...

Could you elaborate on that ?
Which would you recommend ?
Thanks.

[pennview]

If you're looking to buy an easy wipe-on-wipe-off finish, you can try Minwax Antique Oil Finish or Sam Maloof Finish. Both are available from Rockler and others. The less expensive method is to make your own -- 1/3 oil (linseed or tung), 1/3 varnish, and 1/3 paint thinner. If you use tung oil, you want pure tung oil. Rockler sells that as well. Some of the other products that say tung oil are likely blends and not pure tung oil and can be used right out of the can.

The best part about these wipe-on-wipe-off finishes is that they leave no brush marks and after a few coats you have a durable finish. And, there is almost a zero learning curve involved. You simply apply the finish, let is set for a few minutes, and wipe off the excess.

[dan1999]

I used to feel the same way finishing was just one iritating factor in making my project. Then I went back to school and took a furniture finishing course that lasted 9 months, it was amazing! They taught us everything from wiping stains to gel stains, poly and lacquer. Once you have tried lacquer and get it right you will never want to use anything else it is such a dream to put it on, either water based or solvent based lacquer it is a lot of fun. The best part of if all is in the Province of Quebec, Canada, the Government pays for this $8000 course, and they give you a tax break go figure. Don't go buying those cheap guns from Harbor Freight I saw them when I was in Buffalo last year what a lot of crap, the same for most of the local big boxes. Go to a place that sells industrial finishing equipment they will generally steer you right. In the States Behlen makes some really decent finishing materials, Mohawk sells similar materials but I prefer Behlen. They key to spraying lacquer is a good gun and a large compressor you spray with about 40 lbs of pressure, you will generally need the cfms to be about 11 but can be a little less, but with air more is better. Starting to ramble.

[wgander]

I thought I was the only one.
I made a lot of furniture from oak and was happy to use polyurethane: it was easy to use, brought out the color of the wood and grain, and protected the finish from toddlers. Paint is OK for somethings and I've done a little staining but I enjoy the planning, cutting, sanding, assembly. Then I'm happy to clean the shop and the Shopsmith.

[dusty]

I thought I was the only one.
I made a lot of furniture from oak and was happy to use polyurethane: it was easy to use, brought out the color of the wood and grain, and protected the finish from toddlers. Paint is OK for somethings and I've done a little staining but I enjoy the planning, cutting, sanding, assembly. Then I'm happy to clean the shop and the Shopsmith.

I would like to think that I am about to apply the last coat of finish that I will ever be asked to apply but since there is one more piece of "matching" furniture on the build list, I know that is not the case.

I am making progress (such as it is) though. I have one coat to apply to the bottoms of all the horizontal members of the TV cabinet an I am done. My wife (bless her) exclaims that it is looking terrific and that is just what she had in mind but I do not like it. I have seen good furniture and good finish work. This TV cabinet does not belong in that category.

I guess if she is going to put her TV on top of it and then sit and look at it whenever she is watching TV, it must not be too terrible.

[wgander]

Dusty...ahhh yes; I learned years ago to keep my mistakes to myself, that I was the only one who saw them...

[Ed in Tampa]

Best temporary/knockdown spray booth I ever used.

Materials required
1 car Part of my 3 car garage.
20" box fan or some other kind of fan(s) to keep the air moving preventing dust from settling.
Enough poly sheeting to cover walls, garage door, and whatever else you don't want over spray on.

Tape poly sheeting to the walls and/or hang from the ceiling, garage door, and anything else you don't want over spray landing on. For me this also partitions off the area of the garage where the rest of my shop is so dust does not migrate in.
Open the garage door and wet down the garage floor with the garden hose to keep any existing dust down. If the floor is very dirty or dusty, you may want to mop or give it a thorough cleaning first.

close the garage door so it's open about a foot or so.

place the box fan on the end of the garage opposite the garage door and turn it to its lowest setting. You don't want a wind tunnel, you just want to keep the air moving so dust does not settle.

place your project to be sprayed up off the floor, remember the floor is wet.

Do your spraying and let everything dry.

Keep in place and possibly re-wet floor (you can damp mop rather than running in the garden hose)

When finished with your spray booth, put away the fan, take down the poly and store it away for future use.

Clever positioning of the poly can alter the size of your booth as well.

I don't put poly sheeting on the floor as I don't like the walking on ice feeling.

You also have the fixings for a fairly impressive explosion.
Think about it air laden with extremely flammable vapor being drawn into the fan that has open switches that can spark and set off the explosion.

If you are going to use a fan to draw air out of your paint box go find an explosion proof fan. (switches are sealed as is the fan motor itself).

Even if you don't have an explosion you can also draw enough paint into the fan motor to coat the armature and make it run extremely hot.

One last thing and I speak from experience make sure you know where the exhaust air is going. I once painted something red and when I finished I noticed the side of my neighbors house was an interesting shade of pink. Thankfully by the time the paint made it to his house it was dry and all that was actually on the house was a red dust coating which washed off with the hose.

I had visions of paying to reside this house.

Also I have a black truck that has some white dots on it. I won't go into how but let me say I now have a filter on my exhaust fan.

[dusty]

[quote="wgander"]Dusty...ahhh yes]You don't make mistakes like mine then.