Production Friendly Finishing I attended a finishing workshop that was unlike any other finishing workshop that I had been to. It was called Production Friendly Finishing . The materials and techniques that were talked about in the seminar were all _base_d on the product offerings from Akzo Nobel, the largest manufacturer of chemical coatings in America, and possibly the world. It was not really a sales pitch meeting, but since the instructor is an Akzo Nobel tech, the finish discussions were in the context of the Akzo Nobel product line. I took notes at this seminar. This is my rewriting of those notes (it’s a mnemonic process that you first take the notes and then you rewrite them without the shorthand). The notes are more or less in the order in which they were given. As you read through, you might notice a disjointed pattern or a jumping of one topic to another. As the seminar was given, the instructor would entertain questions and comments from the attendees. Getting sidetracked and going off on tangents was easy. It’s probably better to think of these notes as minutes that are taken at a meeting. The instructor would talk and then we would butt right in with our questions and comments. Production Friendly Finishing Seminar Notes The seminar focused on only a few types of coatings ( finish systems ) and what they are made of:           # lacquer           # precatalyzed lacquer           # post-catalyzed lacquer           # conversion varnish Each coating type is called a finish system . Each finish system has limits as to how much _layer_ing of colors and coats you can do. This _layer_ing is called multi-color steps or multi-_layer_ed colors and they are part of a finish schedule called multi-step finishing . _layer_ed on colors give you depth and consistency all over, as well as clarity. # Catalyzed (and for these purposes precatalyzed coatings fall into this same boat) finish systems differ from nitrocellulose lacquer finish systems in one way because not every coat melts into one another. A continuous film is not formed by a catalyzed finish because there is often just a mechanical bond holding _layer_s of finish to one another. Adhesion is a big concern in developing a finish schedule using a catalyzed finish system. You cannot do the same extensive _layer_ing of colorcoats and finish with catalyzed coatings as you can with furniture grade lacquer-type coatings because each coat underneath is not going to redissolve and knit together the way that they do with nitrocellulose lacquer systems. In the furniture industry, they _layer_ one coat after another, coat after coat. They sandwich in color coats with washcoats and sealer coats and do quite a lot of color _layer_ing. This is just not the case with the conversion coatings. Conversion coatings have parameters that do not allow the almost endless _layer_ing of colors, all with coats of finish that knit together nicely to form a continuous film of finish. # Catalyzed finish schedules are usually as rudimentary as staining, sealing, topcoating. This is not done for simplicity, but as described above, there are limitations in trying to get a catalyzed finish system to have the look of factory-finished furniture (which has the big advantage of being lacquer-_base_d) #   Conversion varnish is a cross_link_ing finish system. You have two [or more] resins that bond together during the catalyzation process. The catalyst _link_s the two resins together. This is the cross_link_ing that makes these finishes so tough, durable, and chemically resistant. Without the presence of the catalyst, the finish may never cure [properly]. #   Catalyzed lacquer formulations are mixtures of lacquer and varnish [resins] which _link_ together because the catalyst has been added. #   Precatalyzed lacquer has some of the drying characteristics of lacquer and some of the curing characteristics of varnish (as in conversion varnish, not the varnish that is reduced with mineral spirits). Precatalyzed lacquer is considered a convenient system because you end up with a durable film close to the properties of a conversion finish and you do not have to add catalyst or worry about pot life or sweating time . Sweat time is  the amount of time you are supposed to wait (according to each manufacturer’s tech sheet for their coatings if they require a sweat time) after you mix in the catalyst to your finish but before you can actually start using/spraying the finish. When you use a precatalyzed lacquer, it handles like lacquer and cures to a much more durable film. Not all precatalyzed lacquers are the same. The variance in performance of one brand to another is accounted for by the fact that if you dump the tiniest percentage of varnish into your lacquer