Translucent Black Without A Spray Rig?

[fookgub]

I'd like to try a translucent black nitro finish on my guitar project. I don't own a compressor or spray gun, so I'm pretty much stuck with rattle cans and brush/wipe on products. I spent some time this morning looking for suppliers of trans black in rattle cans and I couldn't find any. ReRanch has some translucent colors, but no black, and stewmac only has clear and opaque black. Does anyone know of a supplier that sells trans black in a spray can? Failing that, could I simply mix up some black dye and lacquer, brush it on, then spray my clear coats as normal? What sort of dye would I want to use to get a translucent black in that case? Any tips for getting even color? Any other applications hints -- thinning/brush type/etc?

[jtmullet]

Hey dude I don't know but what I would do is take a standard black or a opaque black and just thin it dow so much that it becomes a translucent jut test on a scrap piece of wood until you like what you see as long as your not doing a sunburst you should be able to just brush it on with no problems.

Edited August 25, 2006 by jtmullet

[chunkielad]

I did a trans black with black stain, sanded back and then a thin black stain over and clear over that. I didn't thin the second coat down enough but next time it'll be immaculate.

[fookgub]

Hey dude I don't know but what I would do is take a standard black or a opaque black and just thin it dow so much that it becomes a translucent jut test on a scrap piece of wood until you like what you see as long as your not doing a sunburst you should be able to just brush it on with no problems.

That's an interesting idea, but none of the suppliers I've check sell colored lacquer. They just sell clear and a variety of dyes. I think I had the same approch in mind in buying clear lacquer and dye, then mixing it to translucent instead of opaque. Or I could mix it to opaque black, then thin it out. I'm not sure what the difference would be, or if one method would be preferable to another, but I think that's the direction I'm heading in.

I did a trans black with black stain, sanded back and then a thin black stain over and clear over that. I didn't thin the second coat down enough but next time it'll be immaculate.

I'm not sure if that would work for the kind of look I'm going for. The process I was planning was this: grainfill with epoxy (black or clear -- haven't decided yet), spray or brush black tinted lacquer, clearcoat. When you say stain, do you mean a diluted dye like what stew mac sells or tinted laquer?

[Racer X]

I'd go the stain route. You start filling in black, then painting in opaque black, next thing you know, it about looks SOLID black, and the grain isn't as obvious.

[Maiden69]

Go to a auto store like Autozone, they sell a laquer that is intended to be used to paint the tail lights on vehicles and it is tranparent black. I don't know what kind of laquer so you will have to test it in order to use it with any other type of paint or sealer. IN case of the epoxy to grain fill you have no problem. But I will coat with a few more coats of clear to prevent lightening the color because of rub down.

[chunkielad]

I'm not sure if that would work for the kind of look I'm going for. The process I was planning was this: grainfill with epoxy (black or clear -- haven't decided yet), spray or brush black tinted lacquer, clearcoat. When you say stain, do you mean a diluted dye like what stew mac sells or tinted laquer?

Bog standard stain mate - I used Rustins for mine. The secret is to do the staining watered down (I used 75% stain 25% thinner but it ended up quite dark so a 50% 50% may be better) that way if you want to darken it you can but you don't go too dark as easy.

Then, when happy with it, just clearover with Nitro, 2 pack, poly - whatever!

Mine looks like a trans black laquer but as I say, a bit darker than i planned.

Edited August 25, 2006 by chunkielad