Overspray Fix

[abowers]

Hi all,

I have finished spraying 6 dining chairs with lacquer. I have a lot of dried over spray. After a good dry time, I put on a second coat but am still getting over spray. The complexity of the chairs are great, meaning there is not a single flat surface and spaces between carvings. I attempted to do it in such a manner that would minimize this starting on the inside and finishing in the front and seat.

My question is can I polish this out without respraying. It is difficult between having to borrow the neighbors back yard, if the weather and humidity cooperates and dragging the chairs over in the car. I was considering trying to rub out with abralon, or maybe paste wax with steel wool. Or I guess if necessary try and reflow with 1/3 lacquer to 2/3 thinner?

Would any of these methods work? Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks.

[Darnell Hagen]

The key to eliminating overspray is to either get the whole project wet fast, or allow a surface to flash off before starting an adjacent one.

Overspray can be removed with a worn out sanding sponge, I use the same 220 grit that I use for sanding between coats. White scotchbrite works too, and I would assume a light touch with steel wool would work as well, although I haven't tried it. I use a product from Mohawk called Wool-Lube. A little bit rubbed on the sponge with water allows me to knock off the overspray roughness without scratching the surface. It leaves a nice feeling finish, too.

[Vic]

The key to eliminating overspray is to either get the whole project wet fast, or allow a surface to flash off before starting an adjacent one.

Overspray can be removed with a worn out sanding sponge, I use the same 220 grit that I use for sanding between coats. White scotchbrite works too, and I would assume a light touch with steel wool would work as well, although I haven't tried it. I use a product from Mohawk called Wool-Lube. A little bit rubbed on the sponge with water allows me to knock off the overspray roughness without scratching the surface. It leaves a nice feeling finish, too.

I love the white Scotchbrite pads. I use them to buff up the chrome in the house..It'll take off hard water spots and not scratch the chrome.

[thewoodwhisperer]

In the past, when using a finish that redissolves easily such as lacquer, I have had luck reducing the effect of over-spray simply by giving a fairly generous coat of lacquer thinner. This usually isn't a 100% fix but on hard to reach areas and the insides of casework, it can really save you a lot of time by helping to level things out. Anything left over is easily polished out. You already got some good advice so I'll just add another possible path. I would start wet sanding the surface with mineral spirits using 600 grit wet/dry paper and a sanding block. That should level everything out nicely and get rid of any possible lumps from the over spray. At that point, you can use abrasive pads to get the sheen up to your liking. You might even consider just buffing using rottenstone or pumice. The good thing is that lacquer is the king of finishes for stuff like this. Very easy to buff out.

[abowers]

Good advice. I will consider the wool lube, never heard of that before, sounds like a good product. Also, I can not seem to find the 3m scotch bright pads. Where is a good place to purchase those? I have a couple of grey pads from Sherwin Williams, are they similar?

My first thought was similar to tww response to try and "re level" if that is the term, by spraying thinner or the lacquer cut with a lot of thinner. I would consider the idea of wet sanding, however, these chairs have a lot of intricate carvings and might be tough to do. I have access to a right angle polisher. Do you think pumice and rotten stone would work using that? or is it too powerful.

please know that I am very new to this, have read many books on finishing, and finally trying to put that knowledge to use. So I thank you very much for your advice and mostly your patience with this "Newbie".

[thewoodwhisperer]

Personally, I wouldn't use a powered polisher on anything other than a flat surface. So a polisher with some abrasives would certainly work, but it might work a little too good and too fast. For carved/detailed surfaces, I think you're better off doing those by hand. And if its in an area that won't be touched very often, that's a perfect spot for the re-leveling spray step.