ShatnersBassoon Posted September 4, 2023 Report Share Posted September 4, 2023 I enjoy it…but it’s a royal pain in the proverbial! Been pondering about sending some of my builds to a local lady I know that does finishes on motorbikes. Anyone else gone down this route? I don’t have the means at the moment to spray 2K…and it scares me! Still haven’t tried nitro…maybe I should, although the curing time puts me off a bit! I’ve heard that the pre cat lacquer cures a lot faster, is this true? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted September 5, 2023 Report Share Posted September 5, 2023 Outsourcing is the name of the game! Rather than sending your builds, why not ask for a paid course or some sort of part time apprentice deal? She would teach you how to spray 2k, you could help with sanding and other tedious tasks as you already know how to prepare your work for finishing. Finishing metal is not too different to finishing wood after all, especially when it comes to painting or clearcoating. Every scratch and dust particle will show... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted September 7, 2023 Report Share Posted September 7, 2023 my brother is an auto body expert... works as a mechanic but his passion is restoring old cars. he's done a number of show cars. a long long time ago he repainted two guitars for me... and they were about as good as a finish can be... very pretty. the finish didn't have great adherence/duribliity to the wood... so I guess that would be one thing I would watch out for there. as much as my elbow hates wet sanding... my approach to your problem has just been to try and make it easier for me to finish and I have learned that a job can be a LOT easier if it's prepped well. I haven't bought a da sander yet (requires a large compressor) but I can tell you that that is how 90% of auto body finishes are done. when you've got to get a flat surface on a huge area like a car... that is THE tool for the job. they (I'm told) also do a great job of buffing. In the interest of getting closer to the functionality of a da sander I bought a bosch cordless sander that, similar to the festool or other elec da sander... puts your hand very close to the sanding surface... and haven't used it on a finish yet... but i can confirm it feels just like a da sander for doing basic sanding. I'm hopeful it will make things easier when it comes to wet sanding. Not many sanders I would trust to wet sand on a contoured surface... but a da sander can def do that. will have to snag some mesh sanding pads in the 1200 and up grit... and will report back when I get there. hope there is something there you can use! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted September 7, 2023 Report Share Posted September 7, 2023 1 hour ago, mistermikev said: the finish didn't have great adherence/duribliity to the wood... so I guess that would be one thing I would watch out for there. For paint that most likely would require some primer that's made for wood, and that should then be suitable for car paint. That said, the ultra clear 2k which is intended for metal flake paint seems to work perfectly well on guitars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted September 7, 2023 Report Share Posted September 7, 2023 11 minutes ago, Bizman62 said: For paint that most likely would require some primer that's made for wood, and that should then be suitable for car paint. That said, the ultra clear 2k which is intended for metal flake paint seems to work perfectly well on guitars. right, that was kind of my point... you need a primer that is made for wood that is also compatible with a paint that is typically intended for metal... idk what the market is like today but 20+ years ago when I did this with my brother... it essentially meant finding a car paint guy who knows something about wood or a guitar paint guy who knows something about cars... and internet wasn't nearly as much of a resource back then so... might have been a much bigger long shot... but I thought I'd mention it because a car paint person might not really be aware of the issues of priming wood. Can certainly ask your car person if they will work with other paints... and frankly back in the day(20s thru the 50s) all cars were painted with nitro lacquer... but I just pointed that out to say that the typical paints used today for cars may or may not necc be compatible with the typical primers that are made for wood. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted September 7, 2023 Report Share Posted September 7, 2023 Yepp, it might have been different back in the 70's when we painted our summer cottage. My understanding is that at least the window frames of the old building were painted with sparepart paint for agricultural vehicles. And if memory serves me right, the new building was painted with a similar paint. The window frames still look good, no chipping or crackling. The new building was towed away after some twenty years but the painting was intact, my folks just wanted a real cottage instead of a small cabin of 3x6 metres. But all that was back when good paint included all sorts of poisons. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted September 7, 2023 Report Share Posted September 7, 2023 Get Morrells (uk made) pre cat nitro from wood finishes direct, it cures in no time and all and has all the pros of nitro. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted September 7, 2023 Report Share Posted September 7, 2023 This is the stuff you want, it's the high build. I thin it by about 30% with their cellulose thinners. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShatnersBassoon Posted September 13, 2023 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2023 On 9/7/2023 at 9:46 PM, ADFinlayson said: Get Morrells (uk made) pre cat nitro from wood finishes direct, it cures in no time and all and has all the pros of nitro. I’m dying to try Nitro, will definitely give that stuff a try Ash. Cheers For some reason I missed all these replies! Lots of food for thought here. Thanks everyone! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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