Touching Up CV in the Field
Tips and tricks on how to fix dings and scratches in conversion varnish finishes. October 2, 2005
Question
How do you touch up minor dings and scratches in the field on surfaces sprayed with CV, short of spraying the entire panel?
Forum Responses
(Finishing Forum)
From contributor R:
I am a field tech and I use one of two products, as follows: Konig or Mohawk non-haloing spray cans. They work great for touchups and like the name implies, they do not halo. Lightly scuff with some 320 paper, put on a couple light coats and you'll be good to roll. They come in lots of different sheen levels and they also blend in real well if you are between sheens. Hope this helps.
From contributor D:
Mohawk makes an aerosol pre-cat which can be used for these repairs. The formulation and the layout of the finish are unique. So that a burn-in does not shine through, which is a major problem with burn-ins, coat the burn-in first with Mohawk's Finish Up (a waterbase wipe-on polyurethane). Then you can topcoat over the sealed-in burn-in with the Mohawk pre-cat.
You need to spray light coats with the aerosol. These are not film-building coats. They are sheen-adjustment coats. I have to return to a customer's house to fix a halo problem. And I used the best product there was for this, the original old Star Chemical aerosol clear. I laid it down on nitrocellulose lacquer, but sometimes, despite the best efforts, you get a halo.
On regular lacquer, one method is to lay down a specialty aerosol called Blender Flo-Out (Mohawk) around your area of spot-spray. You can also use No Blush and finesse the area. These specialty aerosols sometimes work/help and sometimes they do not. I mentioned Finish Up. This should surely be in anyone's touchup arsenal. Master the use of this great material and some touchups and spot finishing projects fly with ease.
From contributor N:
Contributor D, what is your impression of the Finish Up from Mohawk? I used to have a lot of exposure to it when I worked for a Kitchen Tune-Up franchise. It was used to "repair" or "sheen adjust" cabinets and while I admit, on a piece of furniture that will not be subject to wear or financial depreciation, or maybe a small spot repair, it can do a good job of evening out the sheen, I wasn't too keen on seeing it used to recoat the doors, frames and panels of kitchens. I refused to do it and took on the installation, cabinet building and countertop replacement position because I didn't think the customer was getting what they were promised, which was a kitchen restoration that would last a long time.
After leaving them, I developed my own method and have had the chance to redo a few of those "finish up" jobs and they do not hold up well at all, other than maybe for a bedroom dresser or something like that.
From contributor J:
I use Konig aerosols strictly for field work. Used them many times over CV for spot repair in all different sheens and have never had any halo effect. Be sure you scuff the repair area with 320 before spraying
From contributor R:
The Konig cans are all non-halo, so you don't have to worry, however, the Mohawks are not. The ones that you would be looking for have a very short, nickel-sized nozzle head. It looks identical to the one that Konig makes. I think that everyone here is on the same page.
From contributor D:
As a furniture tech, Finish Up is one of my tools. It has its place, good and bad. Sometimes it is the only choice I have. My job is to get signed off on by the customer. I do not do slight of hand repairs. In that Finish Up is so very thin when applied, of course it will lack durability in terms of scratch resistance. But for sheen adjustments, great. The idea is to know and respect the product's limitations and work within that scale, right?
From contributor N:
I understand its value as a sheen adjuster in certain circumstances, but my question is, what are your expectations in regard to the long term performance of a repair? Do you have the confidence that after you have had the customer sign off on your work, that it will remain looking like it did when you left even a few years down the road? I am not questioning your ability, as I know you are a very talented person. I'm just trying to get your thoughts on how long a finish up repair will last in a real world environment.
