estesbubba Posted November 22, 2013 Report Share Posted November 22, 2013 I have several waterborne test boards from when I was practicing spraying and I decided to test three of them with different finishes. They were hard maple with General Finishes cranberry red stain so should show flaws pretty easily. Each board had a different satin topcoat and allowed to cure at least 3 weeks. I put all the stain tests on each board and left it for 24 hours and here are the results. Test General Finishes General Finishes Old Masters Poly Enduro-var High Performance Denatured Alcohol 2 3 3 Mineral Spirits 0 0 0 Lacquer Thinner 4 4 4 Water 0 0 0 Olive Oil 0 0 0 Mustard 0 0 2 Ketchup 0 0 0 Italian Dressing 0 2 0 Red Wine 0 0 0 Soy Sauce 0 0 0 Simple Green 100% 0 2 2 Ammonia 100% 0 2 0 Glass Cleaner 1 0 1 Waterlox Cleaner (mixed) 0 0 0 Pine Sol Cleaner (mixed) 0 1 0 Vinegar 1 1 1 96 Proof Liquor 0 0 1 Nail Polish Remover 1 0 1 Coffee 0 1 0 Nut in Boiling Water 2 3 1 Total 11 19 16 My grading was: 0 - no damage 1 - barely if you looked hard in bright light 2 - witness lines or some discolor 3 - finish was cloudy and very noticeable 4 - finish was destroyed Grades 1 - 3 were mainly cosmetic and the finish appeared intact. Looking the boards in normal light, the most noticeable damage to all the boards was the lacquer thinner and DNA. Excluding those tests, the GF HP had a couple cloudy spots which are more noticeable. The Old Masters had pretty good witness lines from the 100% Simple Green but probably won't happen in real world. To be honest, other than the LT and DNA, all boards look pretty darn good in normal light and scratches would probably be more noticeable. Even though the GF Enduro-var won by the numbers, I would be happy with the performance of any of these. They all spray great and end up with a glass smooth finish. I can get the Old Masters locally for $16/qt and online the GF HP is $25 and Enduro-var $30, so the Old Masters is the best value. I tell people to treat furniture like a new car. No finish is bulletproof, but if you use some common sense, it's going to look good and last for a long time. Just like a new car, new furniture is eventually going to get some character. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CessnaPilotBarry Posted November 22, 2013 Report Share Posted November 22, 2013 I'll have to be careful when I serve the lacquer thinner at parties... Nice work on the test! Thanks for taking the time to do the test and for sharing the results. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Frank Posted November 23, 2013 Report Share Posted November 23, 2013 me to that nut in boiling water thing, now that's means a lot is a finish really fully cured in 3 weeks how thick did you apply these finishes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted November 23, 2013 Report Share Posted November 23, 2013 KCMA uses a similar set of test. Never would have come up with the nut in boiling water thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted November 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2013 All finishes were sprayed with a 1.0mm tip at around 3 mils wet. I put 3 coats of each down sanding between each coat. When I was scoring I had the boards in the house late afternoon close to a sunny window with an overhead light on. This evening I brought them all back into the garage and rubbed them with a white Scotchbrite and water and wiped them dry. In the bright lights I looked at them both horizontally and vertically at different angles. Ignoring the scores above, and the DNA and LT damage, I would rate each board in this order (best first): 1. Old Masters poly 2. GF HP 3. GF Enduro-var The mustard on the OM poly is barely visible after rubbing and the 100% strength Simple Green is the only area that stands out. The hot nut added a little gloss but that's it. The GF HP also benefited from the rubbing out. The hot nut (I got to stop saying that!) area is now faintly cloudy. A couple other areas have some noticeable sheen changes. The GF Enduro-var scored the best on my tests, but after rubbing out, it has the most cloudy areas of the 3. The hot nut (sorry) area looks better but the most obvious of the 3 now. This finish had the fewest damage areas but the most cloudy areas. Funny how I would rate the finishes in reverse order of cost. I'm sure if I picked 20 other liquids to test the order might change. I got the test idea from http://www.woodcraftmagazine.com/onlineextras/40-FinishTest.pdf With all my overhead lights, it's impossible to show what the naked eye sees, but here is a crappy phone pic anyway: It was fun to do while waiting for wood filler to dry. I kept running in the house grabbing stuff we use and putting some on boards. I'm sure any of these finishes would be just fine as long as you use some common sense. I think my goto finish might be the Old Masters is it's the cheapest and I can get it locally. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephThomas Posted January 16, 2016 Report Share Posted January 16, 2016 Good job. Now put some test boards of each in different settings over the next 10-20 years and tell me which does best, then the study will be complete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted January 16, 2016 Report Share Posted January 16, 2016 You realize the post was from 2013 don't you? I sprayed my kitchen cabinets with waterbourne in 1994 and it has held up well. The waterbournes back then were not as easy to work with as they are today.. I built a little table about 7 years ago that gets a stoneware coffee mug on it daily and frequently gets splashed with water. Finish has held up very well. ML Campbell Agualente is the finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted January 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2016 7 hours ago, JosephThomas said: Good job. Now put some test boards of each in different settings over the next 10-20 years and tell me which does best, then the study will be complete Well none of the finishes did well with fire! I had too many scraps and test boards and decided to declare cutoff bankruptcy and into the firepit they went. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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