Apart From Lacquer & Shellac

What paints etc dry fast and are easy to work with.

I want to finish some kids things in various colours and maybe decorations.
Lacquer isn't really cost effective in litre cans,
though lacquer is my favourite finish by far.

Spraying enamel might be worth thinking about.

House paints really don't give nice finishes and are somewhat prone to marking if handled.

Though I was thinking I might try some house acyrilic overcoated with Cabot's floor clear. If its tough enough for a floor it should be adequate for furniture. That type of finishing system may lend itself to decoupage, or airbrushing which opens a whole new world.

Open to all suggestions

Brush-on water-based polyurethane varnish produces a nice finish, but most of them are NOT easy to work with; tendency to leave a trail of tiny bubbles; can be popped with compressed air (from compressor or you). For some reason I haven't yet figured out, Olympic brand is much less vulnerable to this deficiency.

Joe

Automotive acrillic laquer might be worth a look. Most of the smaller refinish suppliers will do it in small ammounts from 500mL.

automotive quick dry enamel same thing....... nothing like domestic enamel.

resene enamacril or lustacril water based enamel substitute. some of the other paint suppliers have "similar" products but nowhere near as god as this stuff, sprays very nicely, minimal odour, reasonably quick drying and goes of properly.

cheers

Any reason for buying the lacquer in 1ltr tins?

to get a variety of colours

The colour can it be transparent?
What if you use some water based poly and used Ubeauts water colours to tint it or just stain the wood too start with.
Maybe paint the wood white first then use the tinted water base to get pastels.

I presume you are going to be finishing timber? Either way it can be used to paint most surfaces.

Soundman's suggestion of acrylic lacquer is the fastest easily obtainable finish you can get.

You only need 5 basic colours to make up any normal colours
blue, yellow, red plus black and white. From those you can make up all solid colours.

Another option is the base colour used under 2 pack auto colour. it is very similar to acrylic lacquer and dries in 20 minutes enough to allow 2 pack clear to be placed over it. You may not want to use 2 pack paint but if you had something that you really want a tough finish on you can use it if needed.

Instead of using 2 pack clear the base colour can be painted over with normal acrylic lacquer clear ( its done in the trade in shops without a booth or where a small repair only is involved.)

The beauty of lacquer is it not only drys fast but it can be rubbed back quickly if you mess up (about one minute after you put it on) or even washed off ( anytime at all even years after) as the paint redissolves in its thinner.

If used on timber you will need to prime and fill first to get a smooth finish, again the primer dries fast so you can get a good surface quickly. They make a primer/filler which if left thick fills rough surfaces fast or if thinned can be applied to a good surface and will dry a lot smoother. Its also easy to rub. You should do this with 800 abrasive paper.

Both the acrylic and the 2 pack base are used for airbrushing as it has to be thinned very thin to spray and goes through an airbrush easily. As it dries fast its quick to do a multi coloured job even with masking and stencils if needed. Air brushing is always sealed with a clear so you don't rub off the design often its cleared several times as the job progresses to save the part completed.

Forget spraying enamel it is not suitable, it takes too long to dry and sets into a film which will not dissolve making it hard to fix any mistakes. Also water based paints are slow to dry and don't have the adhesion qualities of the lacquers.

I suggest you track down a smash shop with acrylic lacquer in use and see if they will give you or sell you some old paint to try out. This paint was used on all Holdens up until a few years ago so someone who does a lot of GMH work would be the go. Usually they have lots of left overs from jobs sitting on shelves which they probably won't use again. You can also get the acrylic lacquer in metallic and pearl finishes ( if you want them).

If you decide to go this way let us know, there are a few things you may need to know to help you do what you want which will save you some drama's.

Acrillic laquer is still very popular and commonly available.
A lot of spray painters and restyorers still prefer it for resprays and it si by far much friendlier for the amateur.

The automotive undercoats work very well on timber particularly if the first coat is very thin, it gets in and locks up the grain very nicely.
then lay it on thick and fast.

If you want a solid colour that is fast, durable and easy to work with on timber acrillic laquer takes a lot of beating.

The refinish industry is geared to small amounts mixed to order so there is no need to tru colour mixing yourself.
Just go down to the supplier and Either take a sample or select a standard colour and they will mix it.
Because they don't tint automotive paints they mix paint with paint to achieve their colours you have a much better choice of colour and much deeper extreems.

The supplier I use will mix 250mL.

cheers

Bob,

I did some semi-trailers for my Grandsons last Christmas and ended up using automotive acrylic. I did experiment with the spray-can enamel first though. I wouldn't use anything else other than the auto stuff now. Use a thin spray putty as a base coat. It sands to a nice fine finish and, as Soundman says, there's a swag of colours available. I use a little spray gun with a .3mm (I think) delivery hole. Works a treat and looks really good. Don't know about how kid-safe it is if it was chewed etc.

Cheers,
Keith

Lacquer is unsuitable for topcoats as it will interfere with transfers, decoupage and appliques.

Might cause problems if you are going over things efected by thinners but choose what you use with it and you'll be fine.

All the auto pinstriping products work fine with it, all the self adhesive signwriting vinyls work with it a treat.

use clear as an adhesieve and you can apply all sorts of stuff over colour then spray clear over that.

ordinary paper you will need to use a paper sealer first or it will go translucent.
Some of the specialist papers sealers will work well as a glue too then do a clear over.... maybee a light 240g sand first.

No it probly will cause problem with many of the "standard craft products" but you just need to change to products compatable with the finish.

cheers

more info about paper sealers please Soundman