Conversion Paint

10/28/2014


From original questioner:

Who makes the best pigmented conversion varnish "paint"? Not just your favorite brand, but one you have truly put the test.

From contributor Pa


Define "best".

From contributor Ru


Excellent question Paul. It seems that most people choose a favorite brand for reasons such as; the good deal the salesman gave them or because they are friends etc. So I'm looking for an unbiased opinion. Is one brand really better than the other because of testing or because you like or dislike the people your ordering from.

From contributor Ri


I don't like any of them. I use 2k urethane, and the best brand is the one you can get the best service from in your area.

From contributor Ro


If you don't want to spray 2K urethane, and must use an Opaque CV, try to use ML Campbell's 'Resistant' ...very easy to spray.

From contributor Ru


I have used 2k but want to get the best quality pigmented cv. Is there a "most widely used, or best selling, most award wining " cv out there? I fully agree with getting the best customer service, but also want to be confident I am using top quality brands. Not something from the local hardware store. Hope this makes sense.

From contributor Ro


What you are asking is highly subjective and each response will be a different answer to your question. For sake of brevity, do your own homework and try 5 local distributors of lacquer products.....never found in hardware stores!
Mohawk, Valspar, Gemini, Becker, ICA, Ilva, Chemcraft....try them all and report back to us!

From contributor Ke


::AHEMM::

Sherwin Williams...

that is all.

From contributor ru


Ya I knew this would be a "can of worms" but I just had to get an idea of what other pros think. I always have and always will do what is suggested; test several different brands and make up my own mind per my testing in my shop regardless of others contributions. Thanks for the great ideas guys...

From contributor Ro


Not sure where you are located rusty, but back in the day if a coatings rep came in my shop to pitch their product I would ask them to provide a sample of it. I would also ask the rep to bring me a credit application at the same time they brought the sample by.

Ask about their delivery schedule and if there is a minimum order to get free delivery. Ask about the other items they carry that you could use....sandpaper,dyes.
Showing a sincere interest in the reps company and what they have to offer you usually encourages the rep to pay attention to you and your needs.

From contributor Sc


Rusty,
I always wonder what the best is also, whether it is a truck, a miter saw, cordless drill or conversion paint?
Basically each product is rated based on quite a few tests. Some examples would be resistance to house hold chemicals, different types of food, sunlight, heat, scratch resistance, hardness, and bunch of other categories. You should check each ones results and match them to your needs.
I have sprayed a few different kinds and had great luck with ML Campbell and Becker Aroma. I now use just about all Becker unless someone asks for something different and the reason for that is the rep in my area is a genius with becker. If I have a problem he usually knows the answer over the phone, and if he is not sure over the phone he will come by and figure it out.


From contributor An


First started using sherwin williams, worked great from the start. Then I started using Mohawk colors, so I tried to switch to their CV. Test runs were ok, not as good as SW but I figured it would be once I had more experience with it...it didn't seem to be happening and then the first big job came along (gloss mdf slab doors). Fisheyed like crazy, spend days trying to isolate the problem, just couldn't get it right. Rep came to the shop and checked everything out and said the mdf must have gotten contaminated so I remade the doors...same exact problem. They came back and after a day working on it and no progress to show at the end, we decided my shop was cursed. I remade the doors again (at least they were simple thank god) and went to another shop to he got me access to and attempted there - same problem. He said he would look into it further and get the factory and science guys involved, I returned to find the doors finished, but he had switched to precat and the attempted coverup of the old fisheyes wasn't acceptable to me, I said thanks (the guy tried his best, put a lot of time into it too), and I hauled the doors away only to toss them in the trash and start from scratch again, this time switch back to SW and they came out beautiful. Just for shits and giggle I grabbed a old fisheyed door out the trash gave it a quick sanding and shot the SW over the fisheyed mohawk, woudn't you know it looked great with no fisheyes, even filled them in pretty well.

That's my story, my local Mohawk distributor is horrible anyway, started ordering it online simply because of what I needed never being in stock and messed up order after messed up order.