Lacquered finish

Hi, I'm new to these forums, and to tell the truth, I'm also new to woodworking. I seem to have fallen on my head a bit too many times and got this idea, that I want a high gloss lacquered bed frame. Any advice on this topic would be helpful, even if it's one to dissuade me. So far I've visited a few stores to see if there were any pre-made bed frames available in this color, no surprise - no luck there. I've also visited a company that makes custom furniture, with no success as well. So what I'm really wondering here is: What's the easiest, quickest and of course cheapest way for me to get me my fancy bed frame?

Can you post a picture of what your after, and tell us where you are?

I am sure someone here will be able to help or even advise you on how you can do it yourself..

Good luck.
joez

Now that I'm searching for a picture of it, it seems it's a really uncommon thing to see on furniture. Best to describe it like this: a shiny, glossy finish, where wood patterns aren't visible below the coat of paint(?), lacquer(?). Good approximation of appearance is black glossy plastic you see on most high-tech products. An even better one might be a guitar(since it's made of wood obviously), or a black japanese sword scabbard you see sometimes.

I think the opaque finish used on a lot of Japanese articles is many, many, many coats of lacquer, polished after curing with rubbing compound. The grit in polishing compounds is soft enough to abrade as the process progresses, so it makes its own reduction in grit size (i.e. to higher numbers).

The BD's (Benevolent Dictator's) product, EEE-Ultrashine, behaves pretty much the same way, and it's listed as appropriate for plastics, which is substantially the final product of lacquer.

The many coats of lacquer can consume time, so it isn't quick. And, on flat work, the rubbing is labor-intensive, so it isn't cheap either, although some machine polishing is possible. Experiment first.

If Neil (UBeaut) sees this, he might have better advice.

Cheers,
Joe

Black japan perhaps??

Your best bet might to go see a spray painter, either car or kitchen (often they do both) and get them to spray a gloss black finish for you.

Gloss black is the most unforgiving of finishes to put on and if learning, going to very very expensive by the time you get the equipment and eventually get the finish right.

Something you may not have considered is that gloss black is impossible to keep clean, it shows every minute dust particle and scratch very strongly.

Car dealers always used to get black cars in their show rooms for model launches and they were covered in dust within an hour of our delivering them.:C