Poplar Lowboy - Cherry Finish Part -2-

Now that my test boards are looking pretty good. Time to ready the wash-coat, so I mix equal parts, 3/4 cup of General Finishes High Performance ("HP") to 3/4 cup of  water  into clean pickle jar and using a stir stick, mix thoroughly.

I prep my garage, which has now temporarily become the spray room. Today Michigan's fall weather has cooled the air to about 40 degrees. Better get that portable heater going. Water-based finishes flow better in 60 to 70 degree temperatures, 70 is the optimum. I know, I know, its only the wash-coat, so temperature isn't too critical. Flowing out a wash-coat isn't the goal. Getting the wash-coat to soak into the wood is!

To clean the wood and raise the grain,  I wipe down the exterior wood surfaces using a damp rag soaked in a mix of equal parts denatured alcohol and water. By mixing the denatured alcohol  into the water, alcohol helps to speeds the dry so not to "over wet" the wood as you will with just plain water. Once the wood has dried,  I scuff off the whiskers using 320 sandpaper and sand all my end grain to 600 grit, then clean the dust off (I did this already in my basement workshop)

Since my case is pure sapwood and knowing how thirsty sapwood is.  I'm going to give it 2 good wet coats. Remember, we want a pretty good seal on the sapwood. Same goes for the Lowboy top even though its mostly heart wood. I don't want any chance of blotching, just in case I get heavy handed spraying the dye. Once the wash-coats have dried, a quick scuff with 320, then clean off the dust.

Poplar Lowboy - Cherry Finish Part -1-

The Test Board...you do those, don't you??????

• Sand the poplar to 180

• Wash-coat is a General Finishes (water-based) High Performance Topcoat mixed in equal parts with water

• Dye is General Finishes (water-based) Cinnamon

• Topcoat is General Finishes High Performance

• Stain is General Finishes (water-based) Black Cherry

This picture is of poplar sapwood dyed with the Cinnamon. Don't forget to first spray the board with the wash-coat mixture. The wash-coat will ensure even take-up of Cinnamon dye. Once the wash-coat is dry, scuff the raised grain with 320 sandpaper, then proceed to spray enough Cinnamon dye for an even background.

Once the Cinnamon dye has dried, I cover the left side of the test board with newspaper, spray the right side with a good wet coat of General Finishes water-based High Performance topcoat straight from the can, thus sealing in the dye allowing me to stain without hindering my dye. Basically, we'll be staining right over top of the topcoat, using our stain as a glaze.

Once the High Performance has dried, I remove the paper from the left side and apply 1 coat of General Finishes water-based Black Cherry stain over the entire board. Note how the stain took smoother and lighter on the right, which was first sprayed with the High Performance topcoat. The untreated left side took the stain darker.

The left board in the picture above, is entirely of poplar heartwood. I followed the above procedure sealing the dye over with topcoat. So here is the thing, since the heartwood board will tone or stain darker, due to the fact, poplar heart is darker than the whitish sapwood. The heart wood board will  shade about 1 coat  darker. So to even out, I had to apply a second coat of stain to the sapwood board.

General Finishes - Crosslinker Additive - Not In Retail Stores

Word on the street is... General Finishes will no-longer sell their additive product called Crosslinker to the retail market. However, still available to the "professional" line of products in quart containers to mostly use in conjunction with General Finishes 450 product line. General Finishes have fortified their products and product lines making crosslinker mostly obsolete.




Crosslinker is an additive product which was sold separately to enrich certain General Finishes products, making then more durable and chemical resistant.

Used LVLP Tool Score - Iwata LPH400-134LV Spray Gun

 I purchased a used Iwata LPH400 - 134LV base-coat clear-coat spray gun from our local auto body store. The gun was used in the field for demo purposes. The kit included a1.3mm and 1.4mm  needle and nozzle, along with 2 air caps and the 3M PPS disposable cup adapter along with  the standard steel cup.

I understood the gun was run pretty hard and air was leaking past the trigger. So haggled them down to half the cost of body shop price new. The remaining  thing to do is a complete rebuild on the gun.Unfortunately, the air valve is on back-order and should arrive in today's mail. I have all other parts.

A very cool gun that operates on less air than a standard HVLP sprayer. Air pressure at the gun should be set to 14-18 pounds with the trigger pulled and fan pattern fully opened, so 10 pounds at the air cap is achieved. Interesting thing about this gun, the fluid tip is scored. Its called "tulip shaped fluid nozzle" which helps with fluid atomization and produces less over spray than ordinary guns. So much so, that two painters can simultaneously paint a single car in the same spray booth.

So this weekend....test and tune spraying sealer...pic's will follow.

General Finishes Milk Paint

Often times I see General Finishes “Milk Paint” being lumped  in with the old timer Milk Paint. Folks will typically say "it’s not  real Milk Paint, only water-based-acrylic paint like a wall paint," so the picture in the minds eye of every woodworker...... its just ordinary wall paint you buy at the five and dime and shame on General Finishes for its tricky wording!

Correct, General Fishes Milk Paint is not that rough old timer Milk Paint  made with real cows milk dirt and firewood ashes. That would be like comparing a car to a pickup truck. One’s not better than the other, it just has different features for different jobs.

Yes, it’s acrylic base and is exterior durable, will stick to just about anything and is long lasting. General Finishes Milk Paints are made for wood used in the craft and furniture industry, and for that matter, anything wood.  Just a high grade quality furniture paint.

Lets break it down, I believe "Milk Paint" is a term used, like "lacquer." and not Trademarked. Ok think about this, as finishes have evolve, we now must speak in terms of solvent based or water-based "lacquer." Take shellac for example, need to be careful with that! Target Coatings has water-based "shellac." So, correct to say, is your shellac cut with water or alcohol? You bet !

Don't get caught up in the label folks, as I stated earlier, finishes are formulated for different jobs.

Pine Shaker Clock - The Finish

I spray 2 to 3 light coats of General Finishes Vintage Cherry water-based dye stain, straight from the can. Once the dye has dried, I begin by wiping the General Finishes water-based Shaker Maple stain over the dyed surface. Should the stain not take to your surface evenly, use paper towels damp with water and wipe the surface to pull the excess stain off. This is probably just a good idea anyway, for even color.


Now to the cool part, this allows you to achieve deeper color. First, I shoot a water-based topcoat over the dry Shaker Maple stain. In this case, I'm using the EM6000 production lacquer from Target Coatings and that will amber a bit like solvent nitro lacquer. Second, once the lacquer has dried, I lightly wipe with 320 paper and clean my surface. Then I glaze with the same Shaker Maple stain. So now we have stacked our color, which give's depth to your project and by the same token, will aid to even your color as well.

Once the stain has dried I shoot 2 coats about 2/3 mils thick (the point where your wet film finish starts to look blue) and call it done.

Tiger Maple Shaker Clock

Tiger maple clock completed. My topcoat is the new General Finishes water based lacquer. Sprayed really nice, laid down flat and smooth.