Spraying a finish- stain

It is messy. Watch the over spray.

Yep, fast but messy. Same idea as brushing, though: put it on, let it set, wipe off the excess.

-- http://www.peteroxley.com -- http://north40studios.etsy.com --

I wouldn’t bother. It is too messy. And you have to wipe it off anyway. If you want to spray, spray dye.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

Thanks for the advice guys. I am going to try it just to see how it is to do. Can i spary at about 50-70lbs of pressure with my auto paint gun?

-- Longovette@Roadrunner.com

Spray at 1/2 that or less – check the manuf data sheet. Go at 60 lbs and you will be doing the buildings a block down the street too. :)

-- Regards, Steve2

AMEN to Barry’s comment – I think, with all due respect, you underestimate what you are getting into. Again, carefully check the manuf. data sheet for all aspects. Do NOT spray miniwax if not experienced.

-- Regards, Steve2

if its oil i wouldn’t bother. oil has enough open time to be fine and is just a total mess when spraying. if it is water based though you will want to spray because the wb stains have much less open time so you need to get it on there fast.

James, sounds like you’ve decided to try it. I’d start with the pressure and material turned way down and gradually increase. The thing I like about spraying is that you don’t have to work so hard to get into all the nooks and crannies. But has anyone mentioned how messy it is?

-- http://www.peteroxley.com -- http://north40studios.etsy.com --

When building a set of coffee tables recently, I decided to spray on stain. I was tired of the arduous process of wiping stain on spindles by hand. I had an old HVLP siphon gun that I dedicated to spraying stain. Wow was that quick! I didn’t find it made any more mess than wiping or brushing stain. I ran my gun at 40-50 psi with the fluid control knob cut back a bit. You could spray with 30 psi if you have a gravity feed HVLP gun. I reserve my Porter Cable gravity feed HVLP gun for spraying lacquer where the spray pattern is more important.
I wiped the stain off after spraying. The first table took 45 minutes to stain by hand. The next two tables took a total of 20 minutes to spray and wipe off. I can clean my gun in 5 minutes with a couple ounces of mineral spirts.

-- Willie, Washington "If You Choose Not To Decide, You Still Have Made a Choice" - Rush