This time I finish up this project. I take some time to prepare everything for finish by smooth planing all the surfaces and cleaning up any glue squeeze out, then I fire up the HVLP and spray on the finish.
I’m using General Finishes EnduroVar and my Earlex 5500 HVLP sprayer for this job. I’ve realize the more I spray on my finishes, the more I don’t want to finish any other way. It goes very quickly and I get an outstanding looking result.
Great video. My mailbox looked the same last week. lol Finally this weekend I got it back up.
Yeah I just replaced it and now I’m waiting for the special bulk pickup date from the city to take away the old one. Its pretty ghetto fabulous laying on the side of my driveway right now. I’m thinking I’ll put one of the cars up on cinder blocks just to keep with the theme.
Lol. But on a more of the wood working question. Do you prefer spaying over a wipe or bush on finish? I have been starting to use the Tried and True products and really liking them.
I keep hearing good things about Tried and True and really need to give it a try. I really enjoy spraying. I used to be scared of it but that was mostly from using crappy sprayers and just not playing around with it enough to get comfortable. I really love that I can spray 5 or 6 coats in the span of a few hours. But I will still pull out a brush or rag from time to time, it just depends on the project frankly.
It’s funny. I actually think of my sprayer like I think of my power tools. It requires a bunch of setup time. Now, I realize that I’m a lot less likely to need to finish something in the heat of the moment (unlike, say, cutting a tenon or something like that) but given the fits and spurts that I end up getting to do woodworking with It’s a bit hard to get set up for spraying when I have 45 minutes in the morning before I leave for work to apply a coat (for example). That leaves me brushing and wiping rather than spraying. Has gaining familiarity with your sprayer reduced setup time significantly?
I would say yes. But that would be because I have only sprayed a few different finishes with it and each has similar viscosity so there isn’t really any set up other than pouring it in the cup and a few minutes of test spraying. In general I start with the flow wide open and the spray pattern pretty wide so it only takes a second or two to dial that back to something that looks good.
The timing on this was amazing. I just finished doing my first spray finishing project with the Earlex 5500 this past week and was going to comment on it. For the Canadians out there, the equivalent to the Enduovar would probably be the Varathane Satin Diamond Wood Finish (water based). It worked great in the Earlex straight out of the can, no thinning required. It has the exact same caracteristics as you described, satin finish, fast drying, slight “amber hue”. I was doing an ash bed frame with a bunch of fir cross rails all laid out on saw horses. By the time I had sprayed across all the boards they were dry enough to flip over and do the other side. By far the fastest finishing I have ever done, I’ll never go back to wiping again.
Looks great, Shannon. Now you put six coats of satin on (which I generally prefer over glossy). Do you think there is anything to the school of thought that says one should make their first few coats a glossy variety and then make your last couple of coats satin to produce a clearer final finish? It probably wouldn’t make a difference in this case as the coats are so thin but perhaps if they were brushed on? It seems to make sense on paper but wonder if it would be worth the trouble in the real world.
Hi Shannon, Did I see you using your WoodRiver #3 right there at the beginning? Its been a bit since your review in RWW 107. How is the iron working out? How well does it hold an edge? How easy/difficult to sharpen? (Both compared to O1 and A2?)
Reason I ask is: Woodcraft has replacement irons for under $20. This compares to similar thickness aftermarket irons at $50 and up. So I am wondering if these irons are a possible upgrade for my old Stanleys.
Thanks!
Chris
