Unknown Finish.

10/17/2014


From original questioner:

I have a job that involves factory finished panels that will have 1/8" unfinished edge banding. I have to Finish the glued on edge banding.
I have no idea what the factory finish is, so I tried various methods to remove the finish. Nothing affects it. Not even methylene chloride.
What could this super resistant finish be?


From contributor ar


Could be polyester, especially If it's very high gloss. It might be two part, solvent borne polyurethane. You should determine whether the finish you apply must match the gloss and hardness of the existing finish.

From contributor Bi


Why don't you just sand it with 220 and prime it?

From contributor ni


Yes!, that stuff they (the manufacturers) finish the pre-finished maple and Baltic birch with is tough stuff...my guess is that it's a WB UV cured finish.
When I'm finishing edge banding to match it I use Target 2000...I brush on 2-3 coats with a 1 or 1.5" brush, keeping a wet rag handy to clean up any that gets on the plywood. I like things smooth so after the 2000 drys overnight I run either 1200 wet/dry, a grey scotch-brite or 0000 steel wool over my brush work. It makes for a very good match although no where near as hard.

From contributor Tr


this is the description on the product. full text.
FSC - RA -COC - 000065 FSC Mix Credit 3/4" 48.5" x 96.5" Kaycore VC A 1 P/S Walnut P/S Walnut PureBond FF Fc & Bk UV Med gloss clear.

I'm pretty sure it's a water borne finish. Does any of the last part of the descriptive confirm that? I also have our purchaser contacting the manufacturer.

They got the prefinished panels to minimize finishing, But now I'm stuck with the edges. Sheen matching will be no problem, just would like to make this easier, LOTS of panels to do. Museum stuff, high quality demanded.

From contributor ni


the only part regarding the finish I feel safe about deciphering from all the abbreviations would be; UV Med. Gloss clear...so chances are (99.9% chance) it's UV cured WB finish. IF you don't know about UV cured finishes, it's worth a google...fascinating stuff. Rick Mosher posted a link on here a while back that you can find on his blog here;
profinisher.blogspot.com
The FF Fc & Bk most likely mean finish face and back

From contributor Ba


All we use is prefinished maple ply for our cabs and I just tape off as tight as I can to the taped edge. Stain it, seal with 3coats of GF poly or pre cat urethane, peel the tape and walk away. Are they looking for a perfectly smooth transition from the tape to the ply? If so as others have said knock it back w/150-220 and
seal it with a WB sanding sealer and then top coat. Obviously you'll want to do a test piece to check for any adhesion issues.

From contributor Ri


We are doing a lot of testing of UV cured WB finishes for our flat line and they are indeed bullet proof. The recommendation we got from our supplier (Ilva) was to use a 2K WB urethane they make to match the UV when we have to hand spray anything to match.