varnish or lacquer for wood resto?
Discussion
sprevett said:
when re-finishing a new piece of veneer does one use varnish (e.g Ronseal Clear Gloss Diamond Hard) or some kind of lacquer? I'm not exactly sure what the difference is..?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacquer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varnish
If that helps any?
dickymint said:
TVR didn't use wood in their "veneer" for wedges!!
Not strictly true: the original Tasmin dash and glovebox lid were plywood with real walnut veneer. The door handles were walnut veneered and stamped with matching serial numbers.
The later (steel panel) dashes appear to use a hard plastic laminate (Ron aka Clasabro is convinced it could be Formica) with clear lacquer over it.
My dad recalls that they had a burr walnut effect coffee table, in the days when Formica ruled, that was exceedingly similar to the wedge dash finish so I think Ron could well be on the right track...
There are a couple of websites for car blinger-uppers that mention walnut effect laminate but sizes aren't mentioned nor is there any mention of whether it's rigid like Formica or flexible like Fablon... though Fablon themselves seem to not do burr walnut.
Mine is veneer on plywood which I did twice about 8 coats the first time using yacht varnish which was better than the quick drying stuff. Bubbles and brush marks appeared and were duly rubbed down but kept appearing
Stripped it all again and from advice from a french polisher used 2 thinned coats to initially seal it. He said use all thinned coats but I got bored so made sure wood was absolutely level and ladled it on and that seems to do it. Took 4 days on top of the boiler to dry and any bubbles disappeared. It has vague brush marks if you look closely.
Stripped it all again and from advice from a french polisher used 2 thinned coats to initially seal it. He said use all thinned coats but I got bored so made sure wood was absolutely level and ladled it on and that seems to do it. Took 4 days on top of the boiler to dry and any bubbles disappeared. It has vague brush marks if you look closely.
If you need to redo a burr walnut veneer, ebay has some fantastic deals on it, my father recently re-veneered his and got top quality bookmatched leaves for 1/4 the price in the shop.
As for finishing the veneering, I prefer a UV stable 2 part epoxy laquer. First couple of coats should be thinned. to really penetrate. If you are looking for a mirror finish you can build up several layers of UV stable epoxy laminating resin thinned about 5-10% with denatured alcohol, then flat back with wet and dry before a final laquer on top.
I'd strongly recommend you DONT use a ronseal type varnish, it can very quickly yellow, dry out and either crack the veneer or just fall off in a craze.
As for finishing the veneering, I prefer a UV stable 2 part epoxy laquer. First couple of coats should be thinned. to really penetrate. If you are looking for a mirror finish you can build up several layers of UV stable epoxy laminating resin thinned about 5-10% with denatured alcohol, then flat back with wet and dry before a final laquer on top.
I'd strongly recommend you DONT use a ronseal type varnish, it can very quickly yellow, dry out and either crack the veneer or just fall off in a craze.
Edited by Davi on Monday 10th July 12:39
interesting comments guys and it seems that getting a good finish is harder than I'd imagined! I have done 4 coats of Ronseal and it doesn't look good...streaky and uneven and not very glossy at all. I am going to persevere with a good rub down and more coats to try and build up a reasonable finish but at this stage I'd agree NOT to use ordinary varnish - the epoxy/lacquer with thinned coats sounds a lot more promising!
There are lots of different brands, West systems do one (I'm told) but my personal preference is SP Systems, I like pretty much all their composite materials. (I believe they also supply Ultima and the likes) SP115 Laminating resin is in my experience extremely clear and UV stable which means you get to see the wood rather than a yellow tinted version, and you can build up a seriously deep layer before finishing with an epoxy laquer. It's not what is generally recommended for but has worked well on items I've used it for.
I've been told SP Systems Ultravar 2000 2 pack poly varnish is extremely good if you want a varnish rather than epoxy, but have no experience of it personally so cant recommend it one way or the other!
I've been told SP Systems Ultravar 2000 2 pack poly varnish is extremely good if you want a varnish rather than epoxy, but have no experience of it personally so cant recommend it one way or the other!
when I did my glovebox lid I used about 10 coats of polyurethane varnish, and it looks OK.
Patience is the key, have the wood flat and paint it on fairly thick.
Towards the end I popped any bubbles with a pin and then used a single bristle from the brush to fill each hole with a drop of varnish.
If you need to rub it down make sure it's _really_ dry first.
I left it for a week before the final coat.
Patience is the key, have the wood flat and paint it on fairly thick.
Towards the end I popped any bubbles with a pin and then used a single bristle from the brush to fill each hole with a drop of varnish.
If you need to rub it down make sure it's _really_ dry first.
I left it for a week before the final coat.
Gassing Station | Wedges | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff