I wanted to talk about the guns that I use first.
I have six guns in use at any given time. Sometimes I have multiple projects all with unique colours.

I have one good quality gun. It’s a Devilbiss with a 1 litre cup. I also have a Lemmer and the other four are low quality Husky brand from Home Depot. All my guns are gravity fed and have 1/2 liter cup except for the Devilbiss.
I’m happy to have the two quality guns and they certainly make my job that much more fun but they certainly aren’t necessities. I do just fine with the 60 dollar Huskys. It’s hard to get replacement parts from Husky due to their brutal customer service.

The outsides of the guns look pretty bad but the insides are spotless. I use a cone filter to catch debris and although I said earlier that I don’t use the little filter inserts for the gun I actually do for the clear coat.

I’ve heard some people say that they like to soak their guns in a solvent for awhile even over night. I can say from first hand experience that you will have to replace any plastic/rubber washers if they are soaked in a solvent. Also, some guns rust so it’s good to check if the metal is plated or made for water.

I use the cheap guns for none water based product like NGRs, oils, and lacquer based paints. The Lemmer is strictly clear coat because no matter how well a gun is cleaned it can still spit out the odd left over at a critical point. The Devilbiss is used for any main project requiring a water-based lacquer. It’s sprays like a dream but is heavy.

I keep a thick pin handy to keep the vent hole on the lid of the cup free of product. This hole allows solid flow and stops suction from happening which will eventually stop the flow of paint.

Here are the products I most use:

The primer comes so thick that I can stand the metal stir tool that attaches to my drill up in it. This stuff will last quite awhile because it takes so much water to thin out.
When I prime I do one coat and it is almost always on MDF. I don’t put a lot of effort in the priming stage because it doesn’t make any difference to the final finish if I obsess over whether or not the primer is on even. It makes absolutely no difference. As long as it’s on the MDF it will do it’s job.
I sand my water-based primer with 220 all by hand because I want to avoid sanding circles transferring into the lacquer coats to come. It doesn’t take long and sands extremely easily. It almost falls off.

After the prime is done I use this tinted to whatever is needed:

If by chance a very dark tint is needed like a dark blue or brown I have the clear lacquer tinted instead.

After the primer has been sanded I’m ready for the fun stuff. This is my favorite part. I really like to create a flow by organizing my racks so that I can move and work efficiently and without interruption. I have to walk about 15 feet to the wall rack and I make sure to keep it as unobstructed as possible, not always possible but worth the effort.
I was once told that preparation is 80 percent of the work the other 20 is the fun stuff. That was when I was doing restorations in Vancouver and that has always stuck with me. I had a good teacher (thanks Paul!)
It’s paid off since I work on contract and the faster I work the more I earn. But quality is very important and in the early days I had to repeat a project and actually earned very little. I never repeated that mistake again. Greed and quality don’t go well together. That’s my preaching for one night.

So, before I start spraying I check out the fan filters and make sure they can handle another project. The fans were built by me after a couple of years of dealing with my predecessor’s setup. A good suction is vital for avoiding over spray issues.
I made a 2×4 frame against the warehouse windows and inserted two explosion proof fans. The frames were dadoed on the front to accommodate 6 furnace filter of the cheapest variety.

I eventually added a strip of 5 1/2” MDF to the filter dadoes to accommodate varying size of filters.

So the spraying of lacquer incorporates the same sequence as the clear coat application describe before.

The last thing is a picture of the average fan of spray I like to work with. This fan spread is good for most situations. For some reason, it took me awhile to realize I could manually turn the fan nozzle during spraying to switch from horizontal to vertical surfaces. I won’t mention how long.

I’ve got some pictures of some processes that I’ll upload later.

These are some pictures of the pine for the counter top. Heather enjoyed using the sander and did a fine job with getting the wood back to it’s original colour. Good girlfriend or what, eh?

This picture below shows the line where I did the lap joint glue up to bring the length to an overall 129”.

Here is the finishing process and the installed result.

Still wet here.

Installed now.

Now here are some pictures of the nightmare that is the salvaged the cedar.

Originally it was this.

After milling a…few times.

Now that wood are these.

Lastly, here are some pictures of the spruce used to make the “cabinets”. Really I just made a big frame and added panels for exteriors of which there is only one and bottoms and tops. The plugs are 3/8” walnut made from a dowel cutter and my drill.

The counter isn’t fully attached yet. I’m debating on whether or not to use some sliding button to allow movement.

This is the lower section with the counter being cutout before finishing.

Well that’s a lot of pictures but I’m caught up now.
I think I’ll look into how to get all the pictures to be smaller. Hope it wasn’t too annoying.

This is my first online community experience, I’m so enthusiastic about sharing experiences and gaining knowledge from others and my main purpose is to correspond with people of like interests.
The reason I bring this up here and now is after putting up the first finishing blog post I had time to reflect and think. I don’t want to come across as a know-it-all so I’d like to point out that my finishing experience is very focused on two areas. Staining and spraying. With my fair share of glazing. I’m sharing what I’ve learned and how I found best to execute my job to the satisfaction of the client. By no means do I mean to imply that my way is the only way nor that I know everything there is to know. The world of finishing is as vast as the world of woodworking and will take more than my lifetime to master.

This is my backpeddle and now onward.

So I think I was going to explain how I prepare surfaces before the finishing actually begins.

Most stained projects we do are made with maple veneered particle board. There are different qualities of veneer and we usually deal with what is called “good 2 sides”. That means the 4’x8’ sheet has stain grade maple on both sides. It doesn’t always seem like it but for the most part it’s ok. The veneer has obvious machining marks on it much as a machine planed board might and needs to be sanded in order to get a uniform expanse of wood. Sanding is almost always done right before assembly in order to ovoid cross-grain scratching in the corners of the cabinet. Almost all the moldings we use will be a white-wood unless the project is in a different species like cherry or walnut and needs to be sanded as well. Once the project is built it comes into my spray room where I do a once over and look for glue, contact-cement, or other defects.

I’m now at the point where I have to decide how much prep the wood needs to achieve the colour I want. If the stain colour to matched is light in tone I simply go ahead and stain. If it’s a very dark colour I would wet the veneer with a wet rag and then stain right over it. I don’t worry about sanding the raised grain because that gets taken care of after I apply the first two coats of clear coat which is a water base and raises the grain slightly anyways.

If the colour has a luminescent quality or golden quality I will use orange, yellow, or red NGR and after the entire project has been sprayed with that I would go ahead and stain.
The most popular colour for stained projects in my area is very dark brown. I use a Dark Walnut NGR which basically makes the wood so dark brown that it looks black. I then stain with Goudy Brown Cherry. I’m not a fan of this but it’s very popular.

The thing about NGR is that it makes the wood look cloudy at first. But once the stain touches it the grain becomes visible again and once the clear coat is applied the grain can really spring out. NGR is tricky stuff to spray too. Build-up is a common occurrence in the corners and gives an older look to the cabinet but generally we look for a uniform and even application.

I use a stain sponge to apply the stain because it’s a little less sloppy and I can really stretch the stain out if I have to. I rarely apply stain to an entire cabinet before wiping it off mainly because it can get tacky and require a heck of a lot of rubbing to get it off and will likely leave streaks. Instead, I remove the back and lay the cabinet on it’s back and propped up at one end on something so it doesn’t lie completely flat. I then put the stain bucket on the floor inside the cabinet and quicly stain two adjacent expanses. I then grab a big rag and wipe the corner where the two stained panels meet. I do this across the grain and immediately switch to methodically wipe in a circular motion to remove any streak created and finally into a “with grain” direction. It’s important to remove the stain with the grain.
This poorly explained technique is repeated until the entire inside is done and I then stain the exterior which is easier because there are no inside corners to worry about.
One thing to remember is that the harder you wipe the hungry something can look. I usually start wiping lightly and adjust the pressure until I like the way the wood looks.
Keep in mind that I’m using oil stains.

Laying the cabinet down on it’s back has reduced the time it takes by quite a bit and not to mention the back, neck, and arm ache of staining above my head for tall cabinets.

After the staining process I decide if I’ll do it again to get a tone darker or maybe I’ll end up toning it to achieve just the right depth. I’m almost sure that what I call toning is not really toning but what I do is this:
I take the stain that I was using and spray it on the project with my spray gun. I very, very lightly mist the wood with the grain. This can noticeable change the intensity of the stain without changing it’s colour.

After all that is done I let it dry over night. I get my spray gun ready with my water base lacquer and set the room up for efficient movement so I can work as fluidly as possible. I start with facings and shelves first and coat them lightly and then roll cabinets into position and spray every surface lightly. I repeat the process immediately. For the first and second coats I don’t worry about anything except dripping or runs. That is essentially too much product in one spot that creates and obvious drip. After the two coats I sand very lightly with 600 grit only the horizontal sections of the cabinets and the one sprayed surface and edges of the faces and shelves. Then the third coat which I treat as a final coat. That way I can sort of get acquainted with any challenging section or parts of the project before the actual last coat. I sand the third coat thoroughly and get ready for the fourth. If I like the coverage then that will be the last coat if I think it looks a bit hungry I will apply a fifth and so on. Always sanding in between coats with 600.

I let the project sit over night and the next day I tape things off.
I use painters tape and newspaper to tape off all the horizontal sections of the cabinets that were sprayed the day before. I make sure to tape about 4 inches from the inside corners so the lacquer won’t saturate the newspaper and cause me problems. For the facings and shelves I usually apply a couple of strips of tape along the finished surface so that the drying rack arms don’t leave impressions. I always spray any edges on the facings and shelves the first day. That way I can just spray the remaining surface the next day without worry about over-spray ruining my finished side.
Once everything is taped it’s off to the races. I already put the two initial coats on the cabinets the day before so it’s just a matter of getting a few more coats on and the facings and shelves are just the same as before.

I take the tape off right away carefully and let everything dry and move it out to start on something new.

I usually stir my lacquer once per project and I use a drill to do it. I filter everything that goes into my guns with a cone filter. I almost never use the filter that comes with the guns. My air pressure is almost always at 40 psi except when I tone and I lower it to about 30-35psi.

I think I covered everything I wanted to and I would like to talk about lacquer a bit next time. The process for spraying it is exactly the same as the clear coat except I usually only need 3 coats.

A final note: After posting my last finishing blog I corresponded with a member in the comments area which led me to calling my supplier. I asked about mixing my own stains and what are the proper supplies needed. I am excited to discover a new skill to make me a better finisher. So thank you very much I will post my progress as things develop.

I will also get some pictures soon.

My experience in finishing leans heavily on the water-borne lacquer medium which is a spray-only product. I use it on everything. Even stained projects.
I can see the eyes rolling already :)

I’ll start with the staining because it’s likely to be more pertinent to this community.
First thing is the product itself. I use oils almost exclusively. A child could use this stuff.
Open the can, stir it, slop it on the project. The thing to remember is that it’s not how the stain goes on it’s how it’s wiped off that shows what level of care is used.
Need a custom colour? Take your sample to a professional tinter and that way you are sure it’s right. This is where the balance comes in. Pay for the right colour and don’t mess around with mixing stains on your own unless you’re good at it.

Oil stain can vary quite a bit from brand to brand and quality is obvious. Depending on the overall look you want will dictate the brand needed after some experience with various companies.

Minwax tends to be watery and can leave a project looking slightly hungry for colour. I like Minwax though for lighter toned projects.

Goudy stains are expensive and heavily pigmented. A little experience helps with conserving the product and also in avoiding a too dark look.

Gel stains are fun to work with but can also be a pain in the neck if you’re dealing with large surface areas. This stuff is difficult to rub off if it’s left to get tacky. Not fun.

Water stains require some patience and the more experience in colour application the better. This stuff penetrates the wood aggressively and can leave a very rich look. The only thing is it has a tendency to discolour over time. Also it is not a very forgiving stain at all. Overlapping can become quite apparent if not done carefully.

The other part of staining is the dyeing of the wood if a particular colour is required. I’m very often required to change the original colour of the wood before staining. I use a NGR (non grain raising). They come in a large variety of colours and are extremely easy to use but require restraint and a little practice.
This stuff is toxic and the viscosity is so thin that even a slight movement can send it splashing around like there’s an earthquake. It can be rubbed on small things but will show overlap on any surface without fail if not sprayed. It dries almost instantaneously so be sure of where it’s going, It’s solvent is lacquer thinner.

After the products to be used have been chosen it’s time to check out the wood.
Has it been sanded before assembly? I hope so if not get to work and be careful of cross grain scratching in the corners.

I’m going to talk a bit about sanding. Different shops have different standards. There’s no reason to scoff at a shop that sands all surfaces with 120 with random orbitals and consider that finished just as much as there is no reason to scoff at the shop that sands to 600 by hand. The law of balance can be brought in to determine the correct amount of sanding to be used. I’m in an environment that requires the project to be sanded to 120 to 220. The mentality behind this is that the client has absolutely no idea that a project has to be sanded at all and could maybe tell if we used a 40grit. But it’s important to sand to clear up defects and prepare for finishing. Not only that but it does look good.
Another shop I worked for required we sanded everything (undersides as well) to 400 to 600. I enjoyed that very much as I enjoy sanding immensely plus I got paid for it. You can guess which shop was the fine furniture and which is the custom cabinetry. Both have their place and require different balance. My side projects for clients get sanded thoroughly and all exposed surfaces are brought down to 600 mainly because I don’t use stains unless specifically requested. I do enough covering of wood’s natural beauty during the day that I like to do the opposite on my own projects.

I think I’ll go on to wood prep another day.
This is a great process for me and I’m sure I’ll gain insight to grow and better myself.

Pictures to come :)

When I moved into this 500sq. foot shed-within-a-bigger-shed it was a nightmare. I knew that and was cool with that but it was not acceptable for a woman to live in. Not to say she couldn’t….just wouldn’t. Basically, there was a toilet in front of a wall with no door or ceiling and very dirty. I liked it because it was very rough and industrial and Heather did enjoy staying with me on weekends but it just couldn’t handle two people. So we decided to renovate.

It started out with some grand plans but when we got the design done (on google sketchup) we realized we couldn’t afford most of the materials. So what does a poor man do in times of struggle? Improvise and get creative! So, drywall turned into chipboard which will be painted and sealed to stop that fume smell which dissipates over time. Part of the nasty floor will turn into glossy finished sub-floor and craigslist offers up a cast-iron tub that I re-finish and anything else to save money without compromising structure. The entire kitchen is built from salvaged wood and left over 2×4’s and sub-floor and cost less than 50 bucks. But wait, before you roll your eyes you need to see it.

I milled the spruce down to 1 1/4 by 2 3/4 and it looks incredible. The ply was sanded and used in a basic frame and panel construction with a water-base gloss floor varathane. Looks fantastic. Top that off with strategically placed screws plugged with 3/8 walnut plugs and exposed dadoes and rabbits and suddenly you have a project worth talking about.

I’m a big believer of reusing and doing work with materials that fit the criteria. The spruce is more than adequate for cabinet construction and looks beautiful and the plywood may not be exactly what I would use if I had lots of money but it works and is stable.

The kitchen counter is an interesting experiment as well. I made if from 3/4 pine mostly salvaged but filled in 80 inches with some pine from home depot. I bartered its acquisition for a few lessons on spraying a water-borne lacquer. I finished the counter top yesterday and today but first I had three glue ups to perform.

This is thin stock and not very adequate for a counter top but what the hell. I glued up the salvage parts to the store bought parts and matched the grains etc. Turned out well and it was workable within 2 hours. I glued up the additional length separately and anticipated an end-to-end glue the next day.

After the two initial glue-ups I was looking at one board approximately 84 inches long and the second panel about 48 inches long. I decided on an 1 1/2 lap joint across a 30 inch wide expanse. With each rabbit 11/32 deep it would be a cinch. Well, I lucked out and with a little table saw magic it worked. I did the glue and let it dry a whopping 2 1/2 hours and then shaped it all. The rest is basic stuff. When the finishing processed arrived I decided to finish both sides equally and to be sure to get all open edges sealed. This will help with limiting wood movement and also keep moisture at bay once the sink is in use.

Today was the the day for counter stuff and it’s complete. There are 5 coats of sprayed water-based varathane on ether side and all edges including the sink cutout. Looks good and should last awhile. The experiment aspect is the end-to-end glue-up and how movement will react to it and the floor varathane as a viable finish. Cutting boards will have to be used obviously to limit heat and cutting damage. We’ll see how it stands up.

The rest of the reno is not really woodworking related but I may describe some of the process later on. It truly is an adventure in creative building.

Wow, for my first blog ever that was pretty fun. I guess I could go on but I’ll wait. My next step are the drawers and doors which will be made entirely of salvaged cedar from a huge deck that some crazy client decided to throw out because the wood had grayed from the sun. After some initial milling I determined that the wood was untreated and perfectly good for cabinet use. Cedar, as most readers will know, can be quite colourful and oils to a rich finish that can show off the beautiful and often tight and shapely grain.
I’ll get some pictures up to help with the documenting process.