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Finishing Cabinets kellyj00@gmail.com 01-03-2007
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Posted by kellyj00@gmail.com on January 3, 2007, 4:08 pm


I have an airless sprayer that I've never used before. If I were to
buy a kitchen full of unfinished oak cabinets, could I use it to finish
them?

I'm clueless about using stain through a sprayer, but It'd need wiped
off no matter what we do...the bigger issue is the polyurethane. Last
time, I put 6 coats of semi-gloss minwax poly on with a foam brush, it
took a long long time as I would shine light at an angle to show the
bubbles and brush each of those out before the coat dried, then sanded
with 400 grit paper until smooth, then applied another coat....like I
said forever.

Is there a better finish than polyurethane for this, like something
that doesn't bubble at all?


Posted by Edwin Pawlowski on January 3, 2007, 4:23 pm



>I have an airless sprayer that I've never used before. If I were to
> buy a kitchen full of unfinished oak cabinets, could I use it to finish
> them?
>
> I'm clueless about using stain through a sprayer, but It'd need wiped
> off no matter what we do...the bigger issue is the polyurethane. Last
> time, I put 6 coats of semi-gloss minwax poly on with a foam brush, it
> took a long long time as I would shine light at an angle to show the
> bubbles and brush each of those out before the coat dried, then sanded
> with 400 grit paper until smooth, then applied another coat....like I
> said forever.
>
> Is there a better finish than polyurethane for this, like something
> that doesn't bubble at all?

There are many types of airless sprayers, some very good, others are crap.
What do you have?

Poly would have to be thinned to spray, but it can be done. Lacquer is
another option.

Brushed poly can be done with three coats. The first thinned about 20%, the
other two about 5%. Let the last coat dry for two weeks, then sand with 400
grit, 600 grit, then polished with pumice and waxed. Time consuming, but
makes a very elegant finish if done right.



Posted by kellyj00@gmail.com on January 3, 2007, 5:19 pm


It's a campbell hausfeild... it's a cheapo he said.

Is lacquer better for cabinets than poly?


Posted by Bob F on January 3, 2007, 5:56 pm



> It's a campbell hausfeild... it's a cheapo he said.
>
> Is lacquer better for cabinets than poly?
>

I would think that poly would resist water a lot better.

Would you really save anything by buying unfinished?

Bob



Posted by Malcolm Hoar on January 3, 2007, 7:40 pm


>I have an airless sprayer that I've never used before. If I were to
>buy a kitchen full of unfinished oak cabinets, could I use it to finish
>them?
>
>I'm clueless about using stain through a sprayer, but It'd need wiped
>off no matter what we do...the bigger issue is the polyurethane. Last
>time, I put 6 coats of semi-gloss minwax poly on with a foam brush, it
>took a long long time as I would shine light at an angle to show the
>bubbles and brush each of those out before the coat dried, then sanded
>with 400 grit paper until smooth, then applied another coat....like I
>said forever.
>
>Is there a better finish than polyurethane for this, like something
>that doesn't bubble at all?

I recently refinished a bunch of oak kitchen cabinets.

I used Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane (Gloss) applied with
a foam brush. Very light sanding between coats with 400
grit and a final finish with 0000 steel wool and some wax.

Although the finished job is not totally perfect because
of damage to the original wood and a few traces of old
finish in the corners of the moldings etc. I had absolutely
zero problems with brush marks or bubbles. Even dust was
not much of an issue -- that was a nice surprise considering
all of the work was done in an ordinary residential garage
which was actively used at the time.

I've looked at the units pretty hard and every flaw I
can find is down to imperfect prep work (I had a lot
of cabinets and didn't want to spend a year on the
project). I really can't find any flaws in the new
finish itself. The color is natural and I imagine more
flaws would show up had I used a very dark colored
stain.

Overall, I think spraying is likely to create more
problems than it solves unless you have really good
equipment and some experience.

I am really convinced about using full gloss (versus
semi-gloss or satin finishes) and then knocking off
the plastic-look with steel wool or some other abrassive.
It gives a much nicer final finish, IMO.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| malch@malch.com Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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