Thread: Thinning wattyl Stylwood

Hi Aaron,

The mix also dependson your spraying setup. ie gun type, tip size, pressure settings etc... I would suggest you practice and figure out what suites your style the best. Start with the manufacturers recommendations and take it from there....

Before judging your finished piece give it a few days to a week to cure, I find if the finish if fairly thick it will look completley different on day 6-7 than it did on days 1-2.

Personally I find spraying lacquer to be one of the easiest finishing options going.

I spray my lacquer thinned to about 20% using a 1.2mm tipped HVLP gun. Dont cheap out on the thinners though, it can lead to some wierd results. I use the recommended thinners for thinning and the cheapo supercheap auto stuff for cleanup etc..

If I am staining a piece I will even out the tones before my top coat by spraying a mix of stain/lacquer/thinners first (Ratio of about 5%/50%/45%) giving the lighter peices an extra coat or two.


Good luck

joez

Originally Posted by joez

I spray my lacquer thinned to about 20% using a 1.2mm tipped HVLP gun.

by that I assume you mean 20% thinner, 80% lacquer. Is that correct - I'm not up with the lingo as yet.

cheers
Arron

Originally Posted by Arron

by that I assume you mean 20% thinner, 80% lacquer. Is that correct - I'm not up with the lingo as yet.

cheers
Arron

Yes thats right.


joez

You can go thinner if you like.

It is better to put on thin coats than thick coats, easier to fix if something goes wrong.

Some issues that I have had in using Stylewood and the amount of thinners used is that it congeals at the spray nozzel.

You have to use the recommended thinner. I've used non Stylewood thinner and it did not mix.

When you stir the Styewood you are disturbing/mixing up the sediment on the bottom of the tin. If you don't filter the Stylewood as you are pouring into the pot then as and after you spray you will get little white (sediment) specs/roughness in the sprayed surface. Flywire or silk stockings arn't good enough. I got a box of 100 disposable fine micron filters from an Automotive Paint supplier. They worked a treat and i was amazed at what was being filtered out.

Originally Posted by Arron

Can anyone advise on the best thinning ratio for Wattyl Stylewood.

I rang Wattyl technical and they said to thin to a maximum of 5% (ie 5% thinners, 95% stylewood).

I spoke to an experienced professional woodworker who said to thin with 50% thinners for first coat, and 20% for subsequent coats. I do the same except on table tops. The 4th coat I use straight from the tin.

The manual that came with my hvlp gun recommends 100% to 150% for
nitrocellulose lacquers generally.

Very confusing. What do others users do ?

thanks
Arron

Originally Posted by Jim Carroll

You can go thinner if you like.

It is better to put on thin coats than thick coats, easier to fix if something goes wrong.

Dead right.

Originally Posted by rod1949

Some issues that I have had in using Stylewood and the amount of thinners used is that it congeals at the spray nozzel.

You have to use the recommended thinner. I've used non Stylewood thinner and it did not mix.

When you stir the Styewood you are disturbing/mixing up the sediment on the bottom of the tin. If you don't filter the Stylewood as you are pouring into the pot then as and after you spray you will get little white (sediment) specs/roughness in the sprayed surface. Flywire or silk stockings arn't good enough. I got a box of 100 disposable fine micron filters from an Automotive Paint supplier. They worked a treat and i was amazed at what was being filtered out.

The "sediment" is talc, used to take the gloss off.

You buy Stylewood in the gloss level that you want. From about 25-95% if I remember rightly. We use 30%.

The lower the number, the more talc. It must be mixed thoroughly before use.

The little white specks suggests you are not stirring it enough.