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Thanks for the great compliment, Casey, I really appreciate it. I did these vids figuring I'm retired and might as well help people learn the easy way instead of the hard way.

I get my stuff online from World Paint Supply, look em up online and give them a call and see if they have it in black, if now you can ask if they can make some up for you.

Hi Josh. Yes, all good here, thanks for asking. Only problem is I can't finish anything I make in 115 degree weather and it's not good to have a piece of furniture/project sitting around too long without it being finished. I am going to be posting some unusual uses for a table saw in a few days.

If not you can get it online from a place called World Paint Supply. Shipping isn't cheap, but I get 2 or 3 gallons at a time to make the shipping cheaper.

Hi Joshua. Sales people read instructions and don't ask questions, they just pass on instructions like they're set in stone. Guys like me who notice drying time vary with the weather start to experiment to see if we can get the same drying time in the winter we get in the summer. You end up getting really good at knowing what you can get away with. You'll find that to be the case the longer you use it. I forgot to add the catalyst once and of course my piece stayed sticky and I realized I forgot the catalyst. I mixed up a hot mix with just enough for two coats. I got away with it, the sticky coat must of dried because the hot coat dried just fine. As soon as the piece dried ( it took all of a half an hour) I prepped the piece for the top coat. I was going to spray the top coat with the hot mix and then decided to not take a chance of it drying so fast that the first pass would start to dry before I came back with the second pass. What I did was add a little more varnish to the hot mix to slow down the drying time and not have it start to dry before I could finish spraying the top coat. It turned out great and saved me from tossing out the mantel I almost screwed up. I hope that never happens to you, I learned not to get distracted when getting ready to spray, talk about feeling dumb.

When bumping up the amount of catalyst, keep in mind a little extra is all you need. You'll know you added enough when what normally took an hour turns in to dry in 30 minutes. Lenmar's tinted white Cat Varnish is awesome, just make sure to really stir up what's on the bottom of the gallon can before you do any pouring. The pigment they add seems to settle on the bottom of the can. The untinted version in semi-gloss has very little settling happen. I always use a filter even though when I pour it into my guns quart can I never end up seeing any particles in the filter, it's worth tossing the 10 cent filter to make sure you don't get a clogged gun in the middle of spraying a costly piece of furniture you just made.

@@WoodGuyHi quick question please can I finish inside of my garage ? how is the air quality ? Like lacquer it’s a little hard to finish with need full face protection

arrogant much? I've been at it longer than you have. But you have the right to speak.

@@WoodGuy l have a question for you; is it more arrogant to point out the ill informed you tuber for his inaccurate information?, or to be that ill informed you tuber who puts out inaccurate information? I'd suggest you do more research, study it and your credibility will improve. If you want to know my bonafides, dm me and l'll send you pictures of my work.

@@nicksinderson3302 Well Nick, you seem to be full of yourself. As for my work, it's all over the world, in President's homes, celebrities homes.....you might not have noticed, but the people who have tried Catalized Varnish after reading my post seem very pleased with the results. Not a single person has had a complaint. I manufactured fireplace mantels for the building industry and retail stores for almost 20 years and in that time I have "never" had a return or a complaint, not one! In my youth I've run a finishing department for a huge high end furniture manufacturer, I've made cabinets for Hammond Organs.... I've operated practically every machine in the woodworking industry. Instead of telling me how wrong I am, why not spend your time on your TH-cam channel telling everybody how great you are, like you're doing here.

@@WoodGuy ok here goes; (l didn't watch all of it) 1) you stated that cold water glass blush rings were impossible to remove from a lacquer finish...not true; 10-15% butyl cellusolve in either butyl acetate or MAK then lightly misted on will remove the blush after 1-3 applications usually with invisible results. 2) you said CV(Conversion Varnish) is flexible and not as hard as lacquer. That's wrong CV is very hard. It protects wood by keeping moisture out due to it's densely packed cross linked structure. If moisture does get past the film, CV will crack quickly. That is also why most CV's have a maximum flilm finish limit. 3) you stated that you don't like WB (water borne) CV because of grain raise especially on closed grain woods like maple ect...actually close grain woods grain raise is considerably less on closed grain woods then open grain woods especially quatersawn and drift. Of course the grain raise can be mitigated by either pre-wetting the wood and sanding back or just using a coat of lacquer vinyl sealer first. This is where l quit watching. It sounds like similar career paths for l too have worked in the homes of the leaders of business and finance and their trust fund offspring. I also have had pieces in my shop that are now located on every continent (except Antarctica) plus a couple of islands. I have pictures. Good luck 'Wood Guy'

@@nicksinderson3302 I wasn't making the video for pros. How many people do you know that have those chemicals at home. Why deal with the water ring when you don't have to. That was my point with that part of the video. Happy New Year, Nick.

Interesting concept, I wouldn't try it on anything important like a piece of furniture, but on a sample board of pine would be a good test. Then there's the cost breakdown.....should be interesting, good luck!

I've been in the woodworking industry for over 50 years and have been using Cat Varnish since the early 90's and never once heard anybody say it's dangerous in any way. The only thing it could be is someone in the finish manufacturing industry making a competing finish not happy with the advantage of using Cat Varnish over say, lacquer. The chemical reaction during the drying process is pretty potent, but that usually happens when you spray inside a cabinet and trap the smell inside, you open the door and get a blast of stink. Since most finished items don't end up inside someone's house the day it's finished, it would be a rare occasion. But even lacquer give off fumes during the drying process. Let's use a ridiculous occasion where Cat Varnish could be considered "dangerous", as would gasoline oven cleaner and lots of other items. If you were to finish a cabinet with Cat Varnish and then stick your head in the cabinet after finishing it and left your head there for a period of time you could probably not make your lungs or your eyes very happy. So yes, in that case, it's dangerous. Just like a plastic grocery bag can be if you stuck your head in it and taped it around you neck.

Sorry, I answered your question with a bit of sarcasm in my prior response. To answer your question, once you use cat varnish you'll be hooked, it's that good. Just let it air out for a while before you bring it in the house so you don't have to deal with the chemical reaction smell, it's pretty potent in a confined space when it hasn't had a chance to air out.

Most CVs contain formaldehyde, which is indeed dangerous. The danger while spraying is mitigated by wearing a proper mask, which you should be doing with any finish, so that is not unique. However, what is unique to CV/formaldehyde (so is likely what the OP heard about) is that it off-gasses for a long time after application (in contrast, a 2K Poly is toxic during application but does not offgas long after). I use CV frequently, and it does reek of formaldehyde even days later.

Yes, both the same type of product, just different wording to explain that you have to add Catalyst to start the drying process.

It's easier, lacquer is a very hard material that doesn't move with real wood, so it shatters over time, it ends up looking like you've got a spider web effect. It's ok if you want to spray lacquer over a veneered surface because it won't expand and contract like real wood does. Once you use Catalized Varnish or what some call conversion varnish, you won't use anything else. Your sealer coat is also the same product as your top coat. Then there's the advantage of more solid content in cat varnish than lacquers.

@@WoodGuy ok thank you. I’m spraying plywood, but i need durability and hardness. It seems that pre cat lacquer is just as expensive as conversion varnish…. Especially if i have to use sealer with pre cat. What size needle are you using??

@@spkendrick I haven't even looked at what size needle came with my "heavy duty" quart cup gun from Harbor Freight. For 20 dollars I took a chance and it worked out great. I'm pretty confident the gun you're using will work with Cat Varnish. My gun isn't an HVLP gun. Having the cup sitting over the gun I'd never be able to get used to. I don't do much spraying anymore as I've reached old fartdom. Now it's just projects for myself and others that ask for my help with something they want made you can't buy in a store. Once I tried cat varnish and not having to switch between a sanding sealer and a top coat made me very happy. You're gonna love catalized vanish because not only do you get a thicker coat with one pass than you get with 3 coats of lacquer, but nothing you use in your house can harm the finish. You'll need Acetone or M.E.K. to clean your spray gun. Lacquer thinner won't do it. I get my cat varnish from World Paint Supply online shipped to me. I get the non-build up version of Lenmar's cat varnish from them. They have a version that you can build quick a thick layer when you're doing modeling where you have to seal off each step along the way. In one of my videos you can see the version I use. Good luck, let me know how you like it when you give it a try.

@@WoodGuy this stuff is amazing. I ordered it locally. The high build version. My local shop doesn’t sell the non high build version. I called Gemini and they said it was also self sealing just like the version you use. Hi build is just a tougher finish. It sprays on easy enough. I used a 1.0 tip in my 4 stage fuji hvlp. I did the viscosity cup test and that’s what it called for. I must admit i had anxiety because of everything I had heard but this stuff was easy enough to spray.. even mixing the catalyst was easy . Acetone clean up worked ok… MEK isn’t available everywhere. Thanks again though. This finish is tough… i didn’t realize it was resin based and drys hard like it could be used on a bar top or something . Thanks again!!!

@@spkendrick I get my conversion varnish from World Paint Supply online delivered via Fedex. They have the non high build as well as the high build. I'm really glad you like it, the more you use it the more you're going to like it, it's that simple to use. No more sanding sealer, your sealer coat is also your top coat. You're right about MEK, I can't find it here either, but acetone does the job.

Hi Woody Use the needle you have in the gun now doing a small test mix on the same material (wood) you're going to be spraying. Most manufacturers figure you're going to spray a thinner material than Catalized Varnish, so they include a needle that will work well with lacquers and stains. By doing a test you'll be able to tell if the needle gives you a nice fluid coat or not. I've been using a conventional gun so long that I prefer it over an HVLP gun. You get used to having the material under the gun and it's hard to get used to having that cup over the gun. It also helps that I have a 2 quart pressure pot for bigger projects so I don't have to stop to reload the cup. Binks used to charge an arm and both legs for a 2 quart set-up, but thanks to harbor freight you can pick up one for under a hundred dollars. I only use it when I absolutely have to because of the extra acetone you have to use to clean the lines. I used to use nothing but a Binks 69 gun, that was a great gun, it's long gone now. You can pick up harbor freights gun they call "heavy duty" and it works great, It's not an HVLP gun though if that's what you're used to. Us old farts find what works and we don't like to change. Good luck, I hope your current set-up works for you. One of the things I love about Cat Varnish is the ease in which is sands, you get a run in your project (which is really hard to do with Cat Varnish because it's got such a high solid content), you can sand it out without a trace. You can't do that with lacquer, lacquer is so darn hard it's impossible to sand out a run without messing up the area around the run.

HI Victor.....I've never used General Finishes varnish and I wouldn't call their product Cat Varnish if water damages it. It's good know there's inferior Cat Varnishes out there claiming to be the real thing when it's obviously a lessor version, so thanks for the heads up.

Hi Cliff.....Runs with cat varnish are hard to achieve because of it's high solid content, if you do get one you'll love how easily they can be sanded out. You can't say that about a run in lacquer. You can spray cat varnish even in the 50's without a retarder. They don't recommend it (a cover their butt thing) but I've done in many times. Cat Varnish is going to spoil you like it did me, once you use it you won't want to use anything else. You won't love the price, but it's worth every nickel. What I really like is using the same product for a sealer coat and top coat. You don't need a tack cloth because any minor residue from sanding the sealer coat becomes part of the top coat. I just make sure to run over the piece with an old piece of a T-Shirt or something like that while using my air nozzle to make sure I remove as much of the sanding and steel wool process as possible and to make sure any shards left behind from the steel wool are removed. I'd scuff sand the sealer coat with 320 sand paper and then #0000 steel wool. 220 paper works fine, but I get better results with 320 paper. You're turntable idea is a very good one, we did that in the factory because we could spray with entire chair without touching it. To level the chairs after nailing in the vinyl foot we use a thick piece of glass to set the chair on to determine which legs if any needed filing. Once you use cat varnish you're going to be spoiled and you won't be spraying anything else. All finishes are only as hard as the wood under it, mahogany is pretty hard so no issues there. Let me know how it works out. Thanks for putting up with my rookie quality video. Gary

Have a look at my turrntable it's a no brainer. NO OVERSPRAY UNDERNEATH. Make one, you'll love it. tony

Hi Mark That's the great thing about Catalized Varnish, it sprays no different than lacquer does. The main difference is that you don't have two steps, spraying a sanding sealer and then spraying lacquer over it. With Cat Varnish your sealer coat and top coat are the same product. No special gun settings or special needles. If you noticed in my video about the difference between lacquer and Catalized Varnish, I used a cheap spray gun from Harbor Freight and it works great.

Hi Chaz....My issue with hard products like Lacquer and Polyurethane is that they don't move with the wood, they end up shattering over time. Soft woods expand and contract even more than hardwoods do. I make nothing but solid wood products, rarely do I use a veneer, so for that reason I really like Conversion Varnish because it moves with the wood without shattering. Not to mention it's impervious to household chemicals. I'm not knocking Polyurethane and lacquer, they have their uses. Polyurethane is a really hard product, especially trying to sand between coats. With Cat Varnish you're sealer coat is also the top coat and Cat Varnish sands easily between coats. Drying time, minutes with Cat Varnish. depending on the climate, overnight with Polyurethane. Hope you see where I'm going with my comments, I like to work with products that make my life easy and cut down my work load and quality is high on my list, Cat Varnish checks all those boxes. Thanks for taking the time to watch the video!

Hi Brian...that probably won't ever happen. Because cat varnish requires a catalyst to start the hardening process it would be a very difficult thing to do in an aerosol can, dispensing just the right amount of both with a push of a plunger and have them mixed together.

schedule 80 pvc is pretty stout, you could have adults climbing on it and it'll take it. I have push sticks, I use them when under an 1 1/2" or so. I've worked with wood all my life, over 50 years now, I still have all my fingers. The key is sharp tools and knowing what you're doing. I've seen people use push sticks cutting 4 inch widths, that's not smart. People who do that are afraid of their saw, bad idea, if you're afraid, you shouldn't be using it.

I sprayed the couch potato tray, that video is there if you want to see it.

@@WoodGuy I seen it afterwards. Thanks.

Hi David. Your first coat (sealer coat) will dry in less than an hour. I'm in Arizona and I sprayed a tool cabinet I made and it was dry in 15 minutes.. I don't know where you are, but you can expect your coats to be dry in less than an hour. and no, you have no worries about nozzles clogging. Just plan on spraying both coats the same day. You're going to be amazed at how fast the coats dry, especially in summer weather. Just get yourself a one ounce measuring cup so getting the Catalyst quantities accurate. I use a one quart gun and if I only need half a quart, I can pretty much nail the half an ounce with a one once measuring cup. You're gonna love this stuff after you get used to it, which doesn't take more than your first spraying project. Remember, you can cheat with the catalyst if you want it to dry a little faster by just adding a tiny bit more catalyst on colder days.

HI Aaron......the acrylic enamel spray paint, is that a clear finish? I haven't tried using catalized varnish over enamel, I wonder if they're compatible. I'm picturing you having something you want to coat over, if that's the case, doing a test is a problem unless you had a flat drawer face you could do a test on. My issue with lacquer is that sanding it off is miserable, using lacquer thinner to cut through it is really messy. It's one of the reasons I really like Catalized Varnish, it sands easily and doesn't plug up the sand paper trying to remove it like lacquer does. If you did have something flat you could sand off you could try scuff sanding the acrylic enamel, then giving it a coat of Cat Varnish and see what happens. Just make sure to go over the test piece with paint thinner prior to a test to make sure there's no old wax or residue on the test piece. Let me know what you end up doing, I'm curious to find out.

@@WoodGuy yes thats what i meant.. catalyzed varnish. I got two methods to use it over acrylic enamel spray paints (no slow rustoleum paints ). I will be sanding my coats with (600-800grit). I imagine guitars need this, but it for my outdoor art. "First" I thought I'd try layering it on 1-2 day rush dried acrylic & colored enamels, & try sanding on top of the clear with a much coarser grit to make sure a solid mechanical bond is available for the industrial tough clear top coating. ▪︎The other idea was to apply over a silver enamel paint, and apply a tack coat for metalic flakes, & as well as bury over them. Then sand & go in with my candy color paints & industrial sealer. I'm looking forward to finding a compatible clear filler, with less down time & no gumming up sand paper. I'll try to let you know if a test or manufacturer says it may work.

I would really like to see more content from you as you have a ton of experience! This video is very helpful. Most of the finishing how-to videos on TH-cam don’t even come close to the level of information you provided in this video and in your responses to the comments.

Hi Jim, wow, that's a lot of steps to get the color you're after. You can tint conversion varnish, you just have to make sure it's a solvent based colorant. If you go that route you'll want to make sure you 'almost' have the darkness of color you're after, that way your top coat, together with the sealer coat, gives you the depth of color you're after. Be careful on the tint you use, some say they're ok for both solvent and water base but really aren't. Like you, I used UTC's brand of colorants, great stuff, but do a small test regardless of who's brand you use. Using colorants and mixing the right colors to get the shade you're after takes practice, lots of it. Burnt Umber, Van Dyke Brown and all the others when mixed together in the right proportions can give you exactly what you're after, it just takes knowing what colors in the spectrum will give you what you're after. Not to mention the cost of having all the colors they have. You just have to make sure you keep track of how much of each color you used when you end up with what you want. It's not fun getting exactly what you're after then realizing you didn't keep track of the amounts of each, talk about feeling dumb.....lol. I recently purchased conversion varnish tinted white. Wow, was I impressed, two coats and it was perfect, I mean it looked like a high end factories paint process. The best part is, it's catalized varnish so you can forget about a household product hurting the finish, it's darn near bullet proof for chemical abuse. My prep for finishing is extremely simple, after scuff sanding the sealer coat with 220 grit paper I give the piece a good rubdown with #0000 steel wool. I run my hand over the piece while I'm blowing off the piece to make sure I like what I'm feeling and also get rid of any strands of steel wool left behind, that's all I do before I apply the top coat. Tack cloth isn't something you need to use with catalized varnish because your sealer coat is the same product as the top coat. It was an eye opener way back when when I tried catalized varnish, the name made it sound like it was going to be a pain to use. Talk about a rude awakening, I kicked myself for not trying it much sooner after using it. In my shop I don't have sanding sealer or a lacquer product. I've done what you do, feathering the piece with a fine mist of color to get the color you're after, it works but it's a lot of work. I used to do that when a customer wanted Oak with a cherry finish. They didn't want cheery wood, they wanted oak...sheesh! I used of Minwax's stain, I think it was Red Mohagany, to get a deep cherry color. I just remember it took a cup spray gun dialed way down and you'd go over the piece 3 or 4 times letting each coat dry before you shot it again to get the depth of cherry you were after, talk about a pain-in-the-butt. It worked great and the customers love the look, but if they wanted to do a repair down the road, whoever was doing the repair wasn't going to find it easy to make the repair look good.

Absolutely, yes!

Here are the "crackling" steps.....prepare the piece for finishing, sanded and ready to go. Next get yourself some LaPage glue and thin it enough so you can spray it. Spray your piece with the thinned out LaPage glue making sure to NOT put on a consistent coat, vary the coat, even miss small spots But don't skimp on the glue, the heavier the coat, the more it'll crack. (It's a good idea to experiment on a small piece of wood so you can get an idea of the outcome). This will give your piece authenticity, too consistent and it looks unnatural/fake. Let that dry. Now it's time to paint the piece, when you spray on a coat of paint. We used casien paint but any water based paint will work. You'll want to thin the paint out enough so you can spray it. Spray the piece with whatever color paint you choose and what will happen is, the LaPage glue will reactivate and expand/move causing the paint to crack. It will crack unevenly because you put on the LaPage glue unevenly. Once that dries you put on a sealer coat, not too heavy. lightly sand the piece and finish that sanding operation off with #0000 steel wool. Then find yourself what's called a glazing stain, we used a Van Dyke Brown glaze. All a glaze is is a watery stain that has a long open time so you can wipe it off without it drying too fast leaving behind a tint and darker areas in corners. You can make your own glaze using an oil base Van Dyke Brown colorant and use paint thinner as the vehicle allowing you to spray it. There were other steps we did, like fly specking, all that was was a lamp black colorant, we would dip a little acid brush in the Lamp Black colorant and take off the excess so that when you bent the bristles back and flicked the brush at the piece tiny droplets came off the brush giving the piece what looked like flies had done their duty on the piece. Don't go crazy with the fly specking, as fun as it is to do. I'll do a piece down the road and show you the other steps we did to make the piece look like it was 100 years old. Once we were done with the glaze coat an then the fly speck we'd do a little "modeling" and then lock those steps in with another light sealer coat and then prep that for the top coat.

Hi Nathan, yes, that's true, also, sticking the left over in a fridge also retards the catalyst. I haven't tried it, I know how much I need to mix to get the two coats I'm going to be doing, my waste is usually an ounce or two. I've used it so long I can look at what I'm going to finish and get really close at how much material I need. When it's a big project I know I'm going to end up making more that one batch. Using the product since the early 80's I know Cat Varnish pretty well. I've used it so long that I haven't kept up with lacquer and sanding sealer and what they've done with it other than made lacquer and practically everything else in a water base version. I'm not a fan of water based finishing products. When they came out with gel stain I thought, is that stain for clutz's who spill everything, you don't have to worry about having to stir it if you have a stir phobia......lol.

I've never heard this! For years I've stressed about dumping the catalyzed leftovers in the garbage. I always worried that putting any bit of catalyst back into the can would alter it somehow.

Hi Marty The problem is not enough catalyst or you didn't stir after adding the catalyst. What I do is after pouring in the catalyst, I close up the spray gun and gently rotate for a few to make sure I get a good mix. I should of touched on this but didn't. I also always add the catalyst after. To fix your problem with the sticky coat put varnish in the gun and enough to coat over the sticky part and add just a little more catalyst to that mix than you normally would, that creates a hotter mix and it'll cause the sticky coat to dry. I'm really sorry you had this problem. Don't feel bad, I once forgot to add the catalyst and sprayed my entire project piece. You want to talk about sticky...but instead of panicking, I thought to myself, well, I'll just add a more than normal quantity of catalyst and that should take care of it. It did.

Thanks for the compliment, really appreciate it!

So I guess you missed the part where I said lacquer has it's use. I owned a furniture factory, sold it, went to work for a while running a furniture manufacturers finishing plant, then started another furniture factory, so I'm pretty well versed. I was in the furniture/woodworking business for 50 years and l'm familiar with many different types of finishing and all of them have their use. I just clearly explained that Catalized Varnish is so good and easy to use that it'll spoil you, but it's expensive compared to lacquer.

Lacquer on solid wood over time, and not decades, but years, will shatter, period! We made high end solid wood furniture and were using lacquer because we were producing multi-step finishes like bleached pickle, rouge and many other high end finishes. As soon as we noticed shattering happening in our showrooms across the country we searched out different finishes and Catalized Varnish became our go to finish and never used lacquer again.

@@WoodGuy I didn’t miss anything, I read what you wrote and watched part of your video. I commented on your false statements trying to set people straight with accurate information. If you’re spoiled with CV and you want to move up to the next level, use what I have been for over 40 years. And yes, there are plenty of people who post online that you can’t use automotive finishes on wood...LOL

@@WoodGuy You very obviously didn’t know what you were doing because that simply isn’t the norm. I could have consulted with you back then and probably determined what you were doing incorrectly. I have cabinetry and furniture all over the country with lacquer on it. And numerous cars. Yes, metal expands and contracts! Lol. It’s possible you were using a cheap product, poor application, incorrect mix, cheap thinner, additives, poor prep work, etc. No doubt CV is lots more durable and the finish of choice for lots of factories, it’s quick and very durable. Still looks like shit as does aluminum oxide, but it’s durable. I completely understand. I could spray 30-40 coats of lacquer (each hand rubbed) and it wouldn’t give me the durability of urethane, however my first show caliber paint jobs from 40 years ago still look new today. The more coats of lacquer one applies the more susceptible it is to crazing. However, it can be repaired.

@@garryallan824 I don't remember mentioning anything about automotive lacquer in my video, I didn't mention aviation finishes either. Why not do your own video and explain using automotive finishes on wood furniture, but make sure to mention the differences in price too.

Thanks Marty, we're in the drywall phase right now so it won't be long before the heavy lifting is over and the small stuff starts. I'm installing 2X6 in the bathroom for him on the flat between studs where towel rods go so when it's time to install towel rods there will be solid wood to screw into, something home builders haven't thought of.