JazzRST

iTrader: (1)

I am in the middle of decorating my room, have had it skimmed finished painting the walls, new radiator is up and I stripped the old door to bare wood (and boy did it take long). Question is I now need to varnish the door and wanted to find out the best way to do them? Someone on a different forum recommended thinning the varnish down and using a spray gun and compressor (which I already have), has anyone tried this method before? And any tips you can give will be much appreciated

Jazz

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Doors I haven't done, but summer 2009 I removed and sprayed all the shutters on our French house, a total of 16 separate shutters, of which 8 were full door size metal.

I found it MUCH easier spraying them with them flat, so rested them over a pair of cheap trestles with polythene sheet over them and two planks to support the shutter. I sprayed early morning, allowed to dry and resprayed the same side early afternoon, placing them inside on blocks against a wall overnight, then turned and did each one twice on the other side.

TBH, it was a doddle, the paint sticks better, covers better, goes into all the crevices etc and gives a great finish, and being horizontal, MUCH less chance of runs.

The WORST bit was constantly cleaning the gun, but plenty of white spirit through it, and some Wickes paintbrush cleaner every night to soak in kept it good.
I reused the white spirit each day, keeping some clean for the last runthrough each time, palcing the dirty into three containers, so that each was cleaner than the previous.

JazzRST

iTrader: (1)

did you thin the varnish? I dont want the spray gun to get blocked as its only a small gun not a full size 1

dpb

5 minutes each side with a proper varnishing brush

JazzRST

iTrader: (1)

yea I know I just wanted to pull the compressor out as I havent used it in ages

+Doc+

We use pre cat lacquer at work through a gun, much quicker when spraying large surfaces, and you get a more even finish.

mart360

Back when i did my apprenticeship as an undertaker, we used to spray varnish coffins

We used an electric spray gun to spray the varnish, it was thinned so that we could get a good fog from the gun.

We did it in three stages...


1) A sealer to seal the open grain, (cant remember what this was, all i can remember is that it was a milky colour, (may have been PVA, but cant be sure))

1.1) Rub down with sand paper to remove the nibs, etc

1.2) Wipe over with meths / white spirit to remove dust

2) Varnish - a thinned varnish - two to three coats

2.2) Rub down to key between each coat, and remove dust with whits spirit / meths

3) Clean down gun - we used to blow the gun through with meths after each coat, to stop the gun head from going off


If i recall it was an electric spray gun (debliss or similar) made a hell of a racket when used lol


Mart

JazzRST

iTrader: (1)

hmm.............i think i might just go with dpb and buy a proper vanish brush, i'll pop into wickes tomorrow morning
cheers guys

Leslie

You don't look miserable enough to be an undertaker Mart!

Les

mart360

Indeed i was, many years ago

Mart

urban

iTrader: (1)

Your boss says, OK, here's your next bit of training - take this cotton wool, and stuff it all up that dead guys **** with that stick

dohc_turbo

If its just the one door, brush it.
Obviously use what was ever used on the other doors to try and match them.

Either varnish or 2 base coat and 1 or 2 laquar.
No need to thin unless you want to use the gun.

Why did you strip the door in the 1st place
Was it a colour that you had to go back to the wood so you wanted a clear coat.

quick sand between coats

mart360

Thats old school

never had to do that, mopping up blood and guts was par for the course though


Mart