Cabinet finishing

[PA Woodbutcher]

What constitutes a finished cabinet as in, how many coats are you putting on your cabinets to finish? Are you lacquering the outsides also?

I've been putting 2 brush on coats on the exteriors, sanding them and then using a can as a final finish coat on them. Interiors get 2 coats, sanding between and I have been brushing a coat on the exteriors also.

My "finish" skills suck, but are getting better. Almost done with the birch cabinets with a dark walnut stain on them. Found out I don't like stain at all.

Sorry should have been in wood shop.....thought I was there.

[Leo G]

Depending on the material and finish that you like determines the amount of coats you put on. If you are going for durable, then you put on as many coats as the product lets you. Most of the materials I work with have mil limits, and most of those are 5 mil of dry finish. My favorite finish is MagnaMax by ML Campbell. It is easy to work with, is precatalyzed so there is no mixing and is very forgiving. The solid content is 25% by volume. They tell you to put it on at about 5-6 wet mils. So when it dries you have 1.25-1.5 mils of thickness. I like the look of two coats, but I put it on at 7-8 mils thick. The look I like is called close to the wood. Which just means a thinner finish. Just as durable, but might wear out quicker.

There are post catalyzed finishes that you need to mix in the catalyst right before you start spraying with them. They have a pot life of around 8-24 hours. They also have a higher solids content. Usually around 42%. So you could do two coats and have a pretty thick coating on. Three coats of unthinned product may go over the dry mil limit and you may have issues later on. The post cats are harder to use, but are a tougher finish also.

I have been using a new product that mixes both worlds together. A pre cat conversion varnish. So far, besides the fact it doesn't sand very well it is a nice product (MagnaKlear) Seems to be tougher than MagnaMax and is just as forgiving, if not a little more. I rarely have bubble issues with it. If you put MM on to thick you can get bubbles in the finish. With MK it is much less of an issue.

I don't use polyurethane anymore. Takes to long to dry and usually ends up with crap in it because of the long open time.

All my stains are solvent base and dry quick. You can coat them in a half hour. But they can be tricky to use. If you use MinWax, when you put a second coat of stain on it gets darker. When you use this stain and put on a second coat it will get lighter, it wipes off the original finish and makes a light spot. You need to be careful, it is not a DIY stain.

I don't do much glazing. When I do I use Amazing glaze, spray it on as a dry powder and use a scotchbrite pad to wipe off anything that you don't want. Then clearcoat over it. No need to sandwich it in a layer of vinyl.

I sound like a commercial of ML Campbell.

[PA Woodbutcher]

I've been using varathane products. The yards that I use quit handling minwax, because they said the box store sells them cheaper than they can buy them.

I had the same problem with my stain as far as lightening it up with touch ups. It's still solvent based, but doesn't dry so quickly. Tried to lacquer my drawer fronts too quick and ended up with some bleeding....better drawers than, doors:rolleyes3:.

I guess all in all they look pretty god, but could be better, not totally satisfied, but it is what it is. If they wanted to pony up the dough for walnut, they would have had walnut. Still don't like stains.:laugh3:

[orson]

I don't do cabinet finishing myself but I use a one man shop that does all types of finishing.

He uses a conversion varnish, not sure what brand. I have never seen a bubble or any other type of flaw in his finishes and they sure are tough and durable.

[Leo G]

If he found a bubble he probably sanded it out and did a respray. Doesn't happen often after you are use to the product. But you get a little heavy on the coating and it can do it.

Usually cabinets aren't really that hard to spray, but a small cabinet with lots of nooks and crannies can get into some heavy coating because you are trying to fanagle the spray into the small confined areas while the open areas keep getting coated.

None of my finishes leave with bubbles, but I do have it happen on occasion.