Respraying some dining chairs

Hi. I want to respray some dining chairs. Thats one of them in the photo below. First I need to identify what they are currently finished with - and I was hoping someone here can have an educated guess. I think they date from the late 80's or maybe early nineties. They are made from European beech so I guess they are unlikely to be Australian in origin - maybe made in Europe. The finish is a hard, thin black with no apparent undercoat. It isnt affected by lacquer thinners or turps. Would it be a spray enamel ???

The other photo is a close up of one corner.

While I"m at it, I am looking for another one to join the set. The exact same design would be perfect, but if not then something same but different would be OK. Perhaps a low-backed carver or two in a similar style would be good. Any condition.

cheers
Arron

Attachment 253370Attachment 253371

To me the finish looks like Japlac, a very high gloss hard wearing enamel paint. Made by International Paints.

Japlac gloss paint

Japlac spray paint

I've no idea if you can get it in Aus but their range is common in Ships Chandlers.

If they don't react to solvents, then they are probably finished in a 2-pac polyurethane. 2-pac flows out well, dries fast and needs no after spraying work, so for anything made in a factory, it would be my bet.

Fair enough. 2 pac poly sounds very likely. Can I spray over that with enamel ? or anything ?

cheers
Arron

You can spray over poly with just about anything. The drawback with poly is that the new paint won't 'bite' into the poly so you need to prep it well...and there's a fine line between prepping well and "what the heck, lets strip back to bare timber".

I have a preference for acrylic lacquer (car paint) for spraying, at least in the small amounts I use, typically on MDF; I always find enamels a bit soft...but with a cheap spray can of black enamel only costing a few dollars it's worth a go!

I'm thinking now of sanding them down a bit first with 320 grit (cos I have lots of it) then spraying with Wattyl Industrial Pigmented Lacquer, which is a nitrocellulose lacquer for interior fittings and furniture. I think I'll need 4 litres for 2 or 3 coats on 7 chairs??

Anyone spot any problems with this strategy ?

Cheers
Arron

This is just an update in case anyone reads this thread later. I sprayed the chairs last weekend. Used Wattyl Industrial Lacquer tinted black. Very pleased with the result. The finished result is tough and remarkably chip resistant. One coat was enough to give a deep black look. I did two coats, would have preferred three but I was doing it outside and decided the neighbours had probably had enough after two coats. Now I'm giving them a brief rub with Megiuars Mirror Glaze. I worship this stuff - thanks to whoever it was on this site who put me on to it.

The only negative was that it started raining midway through, and as I had only limited undercover space I had to leave the finished ones right next to the ones I was spraying - so they ended up with a bit of overspray drift on them. Slight gritty feel results. The Meguiars is dealing with that.

And its the biggest job I"ve done with my little Star LVLP gun and 2.5hp compressor but it was not found wanting.

Used 2.5 litres of lacquer for 2 coats on 7 chairs.

cheers
Arron