Home Finishing Advice?

[playpunk]

I just got some cans of ReRanch in the mail. Anybody have any home finishing tutorials or advice they want to share with me?

Jazzcaster - Sonic Blue

[Clayford]

Dust is the enemy.
Read the relevant re-ranch guides found here.
Print the relevant re-ranch guides found here.
Practice.
Dust is the enemy.
Don't sand through.
Don't overspray.
No, it's not dry enough to touch yet.
Read the relevant re-ranch guides found here.

[gordo]

I think Clayford pretty much nailed it.  Nitro is pretty rough stuff indoors.  It dries very quickly (no...don't touch it) so doing multiple coats in a single session is pretty quick.  The IDEAL setup is that if you can get a warm and dry day with no wind (which never happens when you want to shoot lacquer) and can shoot outside.  You can literally stand there and wait to do the next coats.  When you get it loaded up you can bring it back indoors to dry.  It's still going to stink but much less of it.  You'll likely need to do this, spread out over multiple days.

This guitar http://www.gordomusic.com/cheapo.html was done by shooting auto lacquer in a day, letting it dry for 3, and then shooting Stewart MacDonald gloss clear lacquer, sanded before the clear.  I let it dry for about a week and then sanded, wet sanded, and buffed.

[bela1961]

Personally I would not spray out doors. You need a controlled environment  with no wind or air currents. If it is a guitar you are spraying hang it up making sure you have good access to all of the surfaces you wish to spray. You can then begin to spray. Get a nice even coat just heavy enough not to drip. This aint easy! New coats should be sprayed every hour. If you do get runs or drips they must be carefully sanded out BEFORE you put on another coat. This is the one really nice thing about lacquer, each new coat actually melts into the last, which makes fixing mistakes and doing touch ups a lot easier. Put as many coats as you see fit depending on what you're spraying. Guitars usually run to between 15 and 20. When final coat has been sprayed let the lacquer set, dry for at least a week. You can then begin wet sanding with 600 grit sandpaper followed by 1000 grit, followed by buffing. I am describing this for a guitar, obviously other items might require slightly different procedures for finishing. However the spraying sequence remains the same for just about everything. Its a labor intensive finish but nothing looks like and nothing ages like it. Enjoy!

[pryde]

I would let the completed lacquer cure for a minimum of 2 weeks before any buffing.

Keep yourself SAFE. This is a very toxic solvent based medium. A dust mask won't cut it. Invest in a proper vapor mask and protect your eyes and skin when working with nitro. Don't spay this stuff in your home unless you have a full-working shop and ventilation system in there.

Read the LMI instructions in the link for an excellent primer:
http://www.lmii.com/nitrocellulose-lacquer-solvent-based