it is actually not very knowledgeable description of Polyurethane behavior btw Polyurethane is widely used for floor finishing
the only what I can see is that "the experts" try to push people to use they service! there is no fair business...
"Lacquer must be sprayed and best done professionally. We spray top quality acrylic lacquer."
Sam Maloof, the famous furniture designer and builder, who recently passed on, used a finish using polyurethane, tung oil and bees wax, IIRC.
Lacquer certainly doesn't have to be sprayed, 3,000 years of Japanese and Chinese artisans will back me up on that one. As I pointed out in a similar thread, automobiles were originally painted with brushes. Lacquer dries rapidly, so successive coats could be applied one after another. As labor cost started to rise, spray painting was invented to speed up the process, not as some would have it, to give a superior finish.
I'm old enough to know that the best looking automobile finishes were done with nitrocellulose lacquer, not acrylic lacquer, I've used both and the nitro (it smells like bananas) is far superior as a finish. It's an extremely hard finish which can give an incredible rubbed out finish, however it can crack and rock chips were common, which Acrylic isn't nearly as prone to do. Have you ever been to an antique auto show? Don't tell me that there's one acrylic finish on the grounds, as it's not only not authentic, but inferior as well.
For painted MDF speaker cabinets, I'll use polyurethane, it's really tough, it rubs out to a fairly decent shine and it can be refinished. The clear finishes over a wood surface? Well, personally I'd use something else, like shell lac. But that's just my perference.
However, YMMV.
Best Regards,
TerryO
The world of painyt has changed a lot and IMO modern paints, which are of course optimized to be sprayed, are vastly supperior to those of the "old days". Its not like the big paint companies have not been doing anything for the last 20 years. Just look at the research of a company like Akzo Nobel and what they do. Modern finishes are vastly supperior in durability. But these days no pros "paint" with spray, they use electro finishes, many times completely dry.
20 years ago the powder coating was universally thermally cured. Not true today.
Earl,
You're most certainly right in that modern finishes are far superior in durability. This is perhaps "the" foremost function of a protective finish. But it isn't the only function.
Di Vinci didn't use gesso and oil to protect a board anymore than Turner used watercolors to protect paper. The goal or function of those mediums wasn't durability or protection. If it was, then the modern finishing materials are certainly far superior.
What I was getting at was that the older formulas and techniques are in some ways still unrivaled for ease of use and/or for the finest finish.
Just as some people can't imagine building anything, even a birdhouse, without Norm Abram's shop, a Scandinavian boatbuilder can turn out a beautiful boat with an axe, hammer, hand drill and a knife. He'd probably want a knotted string and copper nails as well, so the level of this technology is already at a high level.
So, if durability and protection of MDF Speakers is the goal, then I would imagine, from a cost and ease of use point of view, that roofing tar would be just about as good as anything, although I find that a skim coat of raw Bondo to be more attractive. The problem is, would you or anyone you know want that in your home?
You mention that the "Pros" don't spray paint anymore. That may come as a surprise to those that watch the "Hot Rod" shows on TV. I seem to remember that they were spraying the paint, but I'm not to date on this, so things may have changed in the last couple of weeks.
Best Regards,
TerryO
I've used it from spray cans and it's pretty good, and although I used it on my tool box, I know several that have used it on speaker canbinets and were very happy with the results.
Best Regards,
TerryO
Cal,
The brand I used was Duplicolor which is pretty easy to find, at least down here.
Best Regards,
TerryO
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