I have a job coming up and need to clear coat the birch hollow core doors. Since I don't want to deal with lacquer in a closed home in the winter, I was thinking of applying a coat Minwax oil stain to get some color and 2 coats of a Minwax latex polyurethane-no smell and quick drying. I was planning on using my HVLP. What is your guy preferred system? Also, I have a second question I have bathroom cabinet which needs to be sprayed white, I asked when I was in SW and they said the pro classic gloss coating dries just as hard as the white lacquers and is far easier to deal with. Any one tried it? Did you get good results?
Thanks for your thoughts
Doug Lang
Lang's Painting

Doug, we have used a product called Zar Ultra Max. It is a oil modified polyurethane. It dries really fast and looks great because it gives the wood that natural amber that an oil product would. It is water cleanup as well which is great. We use a lot of the SW Pro Classic acrylic enamel and it is a great product as well. Its a little hard to work with for someone who is not used to it but if you add some xim latex extender it gives you a little more open time and helps it level out. Hope this helps.

mp

I agree, Ultramax is a great product. I wrote about it in the October issue of APC. It was one of our favorite products of '08.

I agree that using the Zar waterborne modified oil product is good. It ambers nicely and eliminates the need for a natural stain application, especially using an oil stain. The look and feel is great. There are other total waterborne systems that we use in spray application. General Finishes (Enduro line), Sherwin Williams (Sherwood waterborne line) and Chemcraft have good systems also. If you want a crystal clear look, Benjamin Moore Stays Clear is very easy to apply, sand and maintain.
Let us know what product and system you end up using.
Joel

Thanks guys for your reply's. I will be checking out all of the products you guys listed. The ultra max and the Sherwood products are two that i will be checking into. Not sure which ones I will use. I will likely make up a few samples, on birch for the contractor or homeowner to decide (as well as me!). doors got delay three weeks, so were delyed a bit.
Have a great weekend,
Doug Lang
Lang's Painting