Hi All-
I sprayed a coat of conversion varnish tinted with black universal colorant, but forgot to add the catalyst ( Yeah, OOPS!). This has happened before and the finish dried…eventually; but this time, I think because of the colorant, five days later the finish is still tacky. A chemist at the manufacturer recommended wiping it off with lacquer thinner, but the thoughts of such a mess as that kept me hoping for a better solution. Could I maybe spray an over-catalyzed coat to try and harden the first coat? Or am I really stuck with stripping it? This must have happened to someone else (who is willing to admit to it!) and can offer some advice
BTW, it is the back side of a wall-hung frame that has the problem, so I am not so concerned about the looks, as long as it will just dry.
Edited 6/30/2005 8:46 pm ET by TenFingers
Replies
I sprayed a small set of shutters once when running a shutter plant (interior shutters with operating louvers)......setting up a new dealer, used their material, STUPIDLY thought I had a pre-cat. Phone call confirmed I had a post-cat. All my hard-earned tricks to spraying shutters so I got even coverage everywhere worked against me (dark green paint over white primer).
I had to wash it all off with solvent; I don't think you have a choice unless it is a really unimportant surface. I didn't because they had to look and wear well. A completely stupid and avoidable mistake on my part.
Just read your post again; given the application, it may be worth a shot to try your idea.....if it works, great, if it doesn't, about the same amount of work to fix.
cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, N.S
Edited 6/27/2005 3:16 pm ET by Adrian
Over-catalyzing causes conversion varnish to crack; I would not try that route myself. I think the guy (chemist) that made the finish has the best approach - strip and re-do.
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I hate to say this, but I did the same thing with conversion varnish with out the colorant though. I can tell you from experience what will happen. It will cause a wrinkled finish. The top layer tries to harden and starts to wrinkle. I had to scrape and wipe everything with solvent. Then I restained and varnished all over. I think your best bet is to cut your losses and scrape off the sticky finish and then wipe with solvent and start again.
Let us know what you do and how it works out for you.
Brian
Well, I liked the what-have-I-got-to-lose approach, and sprayed a coat of normally catalyzed conversion varnish on top of my still sticky mess (one week after the screw up), and it seems to have worked fine! It is very rough since it was too sticky to sand well, but it dried, which was all I was hoping for. Hopefully, I won't make that mistake again any time soon!! Thanks for your responses and your interest.
Wyeth Morgan
No matter how bad a day I've had in the shop, if I finish the day with all my fingers, it was a good day!
Happy to hear that it worked out for you. Maybe I wasn't patient enough to attempt to let it "dry" on its own before trying to top coat it.
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