If you look up or down in this forum you'll see a thread by me on pullover mixes - with a nice definition contributed by another forumite. Basically, its a hand-applied mix that softens and repositions the lacquer after its been sprayed on. My understanding is that it can be applied in one of two ways:
1. by process, across the entire surface. You would do this to get a piano finish (ie dead flat mirror finish). In other words, you are using the softened lacquer to fill the grain. You would do this somewhere before the final coat. Just pull across the entire surface till you have pushed softened lacquer into all the pores.
2. as a spot repair - either during the spraying process or after.
I don't really use method number 1 because I don't want a piano finish. My reasoning is that with most things in the world today looking like plastic I don't want to make my woodwork look like plastic too. Hence I want the grain to telegraph itself through the finish. It probably looks like I would like to get a piano finish but just don't know how to, but I don't mind that. I think a lot of the finishing techniques we hear about originated in the 18th century when there was no plastic to look like, so they didn't have this concern. Having this preference is convenient because whatever process you use to fill grain it is boring and labour intensive.
I do use method number 2.
A couple of other things I have thought about here:
1. lately, I've taken to attaching a second gun while spraying - a touch up gun which I fill with straight lacquer thinner. My idea is to pick this up and spray it across any faults which might appear while I'm spraying, allowing lacquers wonderful tendency to sort out all problems underneath to work for me. I've only used it once when I had a droplet of drool fall my respirator (I must keep my mouth open without realising it) into my work. I removed the liquid, rubbed it flat with my finger and then hit that spot a couple of times with the lacquer thinner before carrying on with a couple more coats. It worked in the sense that it flattened the mess out enough to allow me to fix it during the buffing process. It certainly beats having to sand flat and start again which is the only other solution I can imagine. Anyway, it may be useful if you are repairing bubbles by pulling - give it a localised spray of lacquer thinner, then put it at the bottom of the queue to flash off while you carry on spraying other things.
2. I find nc sanding dust is a good grain filler. When I sand something, say after applying a couple of coats of sealer, I used to clean it down completely before carrying on. Now, I leave the sanding dust in the grain, and just blow the corners clean. The next coat softens the dust and it becomes lacquer again, but deep inside the grain. Obviously you don't want grit or wood dust, but nc dust is a good filler so why waste it.
I should also point out that I have chronic RSI, so I have an aversion to sanding or hard rubbing that probably doesn't make a lot of sense to most people.
cheers
Arron
