Durability of Pre-Cat on Edges
Multiple coats over a vinyl sealer may help pre-catalyzed lacquer hold up better on door and drawer edges. August 21, 2006
Question
I have several friends who use regular lacquer in kitchens and say that they never have a problem, but I find that hard to believe. I live in LA California so we have a 275 VOC over our heads. I myself use a pre cat and I seem to have problems with the integrity of the finish. For a kitchen, I think that pre cat is more durable. Any suggestions?
Forum Responses
(Finishing Forum)
From contributor A:
What kind of problems are you having? I have used SW pre-cat and never had any problems.
From the original questioner:
Mostly edges on my doors and drawer fronts, the top edges with end grain to be exact. My edges receive twice as many coats as the fronts and the backs but they still seem to fail in kitchens.
From contributor A:
Ask Sherwin-Williams. They have a catalyzed vinyl sealer that seems to bond with the wood.
From contributor B:
The vinyl sealer that contributor A recommends is a great idea, as it provides a better sealer/moisture barrier than the lacquer by itself. Be generous on the end grain sections especially. Also take a look at all the profiled edges on your doors - if they are very sharp, you may want to soften them very slightly to give the finish something to hold on to.
From the original questioner:
Thanks for the tips guys, I use Valspar. Can I get that SW product out here in Southern CA? And is it better then Valspar? As for the edges, I get my doors from Decor-Doors and they do a great job of softening the edges. Is any method of spraying the edges that will ensure good coverage?
From contributor B:
We use Valspar as well, and they offer a nice pre cat vinyl sealer - NVS3110. That's 550 VOC here in Northern CA; you have stricter regs down there. Check with your coatings supplier for an equivalent. I'm sure you can get Sherwin Williams - look for their industrial coatings sites. You can't get lacquers through their consumer paint stores - at least that's how it works here. Check out their fast-dry vinyl - dries to touch in less than 5 minutes @ 68 degrees.
As far as coating the edges of your doors, I'm assuming that you don't reduce the sealer? We tend to spray ends on every pass of backs and fronts of doors. That way, the ends have twice as much material on them.
From contributor A:
I didn't have a good experience with Valspar. When I spray vinyl sealer I always use it full strength. I use a turn table to spry my doors so that I get a more direct hit on the edges. The edges are the most neglected by finishers. They have a tendency to blow by them and not get full coats. If you don't hit straight on, you'll get a partial pass. So I put two passes on them every turn of the table.
From the original questioner:
To contributor A:I use the same system of spraying my doors and drawer fronts as you do. The only thing I can think of is that maybe I'm not holding my gun parallel enough with the edges so I'll have to watch that and see if that's the case.
