HVLP - what to use?

[swarfrat]

Ok, this might be a question of a tool in search of a problem but... I have a HF HVLP gun.  Sat in a box for a couple years now. And a guitar and a dining room table to spray.  (DRT has a latex paint that's kinda orange peeled. Not high grade furniture here, something my wife picked up off CL. If I can put a high gloss level surface on it, it should wipe down easier.)

I've read tons on setting up the gun, spraying with the gun. The discussion on the sticky on this forum has dried now and doesn't really touch on spraying, mostly wipe on focused. I haven't seen much on what do I actually want to spray through it, and where do I get it? Does your average home improvement big box store carry it, Sherwin Williams, Autobody paint store, etc...?

I have no booth. I do plan to spray random crap that doesn't matter first. (Cardboard, plywood, etc...) Lacquer? Urethane? Shellac? Most of what I've read about the finishes has to do with their protection, etc... and little to do with the method of delivery.

 

[Cagey]

Dining room tables get an incredible amount of abuse so I wouldn't put anything short of polyurethane on it. I'm a huge fan of poly on guitars/basses as well, for pretty much the same reason.

Where you might run into difficulty spraying something like a table is you usually have a fairly large object, so it starts looking like a car painting problem. Where can you put it that will also tolerate the sticky overspray while remaining clean enough during the time it takes for the finish to cure so you don't end up with unsightly contamination? Another problem with poly is not just the usual toxicity issues most vaporized finishes present at application, it's the fact that it hardens through a chemical reaction rather than solvent evaporation, so if you do manage to inhale the stuff, it doesn't have to poison or dry to hurt you. It'll just go ahead and harden in your lungs. It's like developing emphysema overnight, and like emphysema, there's not a lot that can be done about it once you're afflicted. So, avoidance is your best defense. This is part of what drives brush/wipe-on finishes, at least for the DIY-types who don't have full-blown spray facilities and high-quality respiratory filters.

But, that doesn't mean you can't get a high-quality poly finish on your own. The wipe-on/brush-on stuff can return great results. But, as with all fine finishes, surface prep is the thing. After that, a high-quality product and fine brushes will serve you well. And by fine brushes, I don't mean the $3 version vs. the 3/$1 version, I mean a good, high-quality china bristle brush that'll likely run you in the $20+ range. See here.

For guitars and the DIY guy, lacquer is the thing to use. You can shoot it damn near anywhere, it's easy to work after the fact, and with enough surface prep and final finish work you can get professional results right out of your garage.