Do commercial stores typically sell smaller quantities of pre cat lacquer? The dresser body is 20"D x 50"W x 30" tall. (The drawer fronts are ash and won't be painted.) I assume a gallon would be overkill?
Any recommendations for a "white" pre cat brand and color to use on cabinets/furniture?
- Sourwood
Most industrial wood finishing distributors sell in sizes requested by local businesses. Which is generally 1, 5, and 55 gallon sizes for top coatings or primers. They do sell stains is quarts. Have one locally that does enough business with hobby wood workers, they will break down popular coatings into quart cans, but the cost is too high. 2 quarts is same as gallon?
+1 SW makes a decent pigmented solvent based pre-cat lacquer.
IME - SW is sort of the industry standard for solvent based lacquer and conversion varnish (CV) coatings. They have been selling them for decades, and have a ton of stores selling it. Which means everyone else makes a very similar products.
For this reason, no reason to limit your choice to only SW. Chemcraft, ML Campbell, Mohawk, Benjamin Moore, and others make similar products and if your closest distributor is not SW, you can still buy decent wood coatings from others.
Another way to put it: If all you local cabinet/furniture companies use something other than SW, then those distributors will have higher volume, fresh stock, and provide lower prices. Buying local also helps as they want to you succeed, and want you to come back often. The higher volume suppliers are not going to sell you junk that doesn't fit your needs.
Additional comments:
- Pre-cat lacquer has shelf life in can. Usually 1 year. If you are not going to use it before it gels in can, might want to consider post catalyzed lacquer. If project is not going to be abused, can also use old school nitrocellulose lacquer. The post catalyzed systems have several year shelf life with proper storage.
My only caution with solvent lacquer for newbie is learn about proper film build. If you attempt to build too thick using lacquer, it can crack/craze. Buy a wet film thickness gauge and learn how to use it!
- Solvent based Pre-Cat Lacquer and CV from SW are nice. But IMHO, the water based coatings SW sells are not the best available in today's market, and I personally don't like using them. Locally many cabinet shops prefer Gemini WB poly. Ml Campbell and Target Costings has decent line of WB products too. Renner has superb WB poly if you can find it.
Notice no where have I mentioned GF? IMHO GF WB Enduro products are inferior to the above mentioned commercial brands. Enduro has tendency to cast a pink tone, more so as it ages and nears expiration date.
Bottom line: need to be more selective about which WB you use. If you want decent WB coatings, need to visit your distributor and ask for most durable WB recommendations (or never seem to get an honest answer).
There is much to learn with spray finish materials, and spray techniques. Get some card board boxes, and practice (1 coat), practice (2 coats), practice (3 coats); on them until you lay down a smooth even film, BEFORE you attempt to spray a project. Always test the gun is working perfect before starting something important!
Finally - Welcome to elevating your wood finishing skills. It is a journey worth taking.
Best Luck!