After you clean and scuff sand a surface is there a good way to put polyurethane over furniture lacquer?

Question

I am a professional finisher and am looking for a product that will go on over nitrocellulose lacquer and will adhere without the fisheye and orange peel effects I usually get. At this point, I figure you have to strip off the lacquer. Anybody out there know of a product that I can try out on something that's wrecked anyway? I don't want to buy a whole lot to start with. If you're a chemist, this would be a good product to develop if there isn't onw already.

Yes, I've been doing this for about 40 years. I know how to strip off the lacquer, which wouldn't involve sanding at all, just steel wool, rags and stripper or lacquer thinner. The question I'm asking is if anyone knows of a product that will adhere well directly to the factory lacquer without removing it. The original lacquer is an easy finish to work with and repair, but unfortunatly not very durable and prone to wter damage and scratches. It typically has the color embedded in it and has matching chairs and legs to the tabletop in question. Removing it causes the need for a lot of stain mixing and matching to get the color of the wood back before staining, and to get it to match the rest of the set again. I knwo HOW to do that, too, but it's a time consuming pain in the butt, so I'm looking for a product that is formulated to adhere directly to the lacquer.

ps, I'm looking for a Polyurethane to lacquer product, not varnish or more lacquer.

Answer 1

Thank you for suggesting some new technologies. It's been awhile since I've worked with furniture, but when using Poly, I've always had to strip off the Lacquers, or varnishes.

I also know that in using Poly, "agitation" is something not very condusive to a glass like finish.

Perhaps the "Eurethane" part is what is the problem, and I want to believe there are in existance Clear Polymers in a spray form, that would allow for no Pour/brush/ or roll technique.

I'd be interested to check back with other answers you get.

Steven Wolf

Answer 2

As a professional finisher then you know that scuff sanding will only get to part way there. Give the project a good sanding with 150 grit and then 220 grit. This should have removed most of the lacquer finish. Wipe off all dust with a tack cloth. Then use lacquer thinner on a rag and wipe everything done real good. Let dry and repeat process repeat as often as needed until you are sure to have the lacquer finished removed. Then apply your oil based poly with a hvlp sprayer using light coats and 0000 steel wool between coats. This should eliminate fisheye and orange peel effect in the finish.

Answer 3

I'm not expert and to me they both look good, but for some reason I do prefer lacquer. As for what is best with knotty pine I'm not sure. We used lacquer with some knotty pine cabinets in a vacation house once. Looked great.