Processing of wooden products and elements from this natural material is carried out in different ways. Someone prefers not to hide the natural beauty under an artificial layer of additional coating, while others, on the contrary, want to give the tree an extra charm and gloss. One of the most used ways of processing wood is varnishing, but today we will not talk about the usual coating, which only slightly emphasizes the texture and pattern of a given material, but about piano lacquer. This type of wood finish is eye-catching due to the luxurious, rich appearance of the finished product.
What is gloss varnish?
This type of paint and varnish materials, like piano lacquer, is a special substance that is customary to cover wooden surfaces. A distinctive feature that distinguishes it from other varnishes is a completely extraordinary appearance on the finished product. The wood coated with it acquires a deep black glossy surface. Although there are other shades of this coating, it is black that is the main one.
Initially it was made on an oil basis, however, at present, manufacturers give more preference to modern high-tech synthetic components, which allow the surface of the varnish to be less susceptible to the external environment and to be, in principle, more durable. In addition, the newer types are easier to apply, and piano lacquering is not as labor intensive as it was a few decades ago.
Not a single piano
This painting product got its name for a reason. Piano lacquer became popular among the people precisely because the manufacturers of keyboards and stringed musical instruments covered the wooden panels of pianos, grand pianos and guitars with this coating. The advantages of this choice are quite obvious: the tool turned out to be beautiful and wear-resistant.
Extraordinary color and texture over time was noticed by manufacturers of other household items, primarily jewelry boxes and decorative crafts. In the future, motorists, who used it to finish wooden parts inside the car, chose for themselves for the rich gloss of black piano lacquer. Music lovers are a category of craftsmen who used black gloss to finish speaker systems. In their skillful hands, quite trivial factory-made speakers turned into real masterpieces, beautifully shining with shiny sidewalls after being covered with piano lacquer.
Beautiful sound
For some reason, it so happened that exactlystereo equipment is now undergoing the most changes in the hands of amateurs and painters. Speakers, subwoofers and individual elements of musical instruments are subjected to it. Manufacturers more often focus on the internal content of their devices, not wanting to spend additional resources and finances on expensive finishing of mass-market products. However, some of their products still differ in appearance precisely because they are covered with a noble varnish with a bright gloss and original color depth.
They try to apply piano lacquer with their own hands on acoustics at home, but not everyone succeeds the first time. The main difficulty is to find a suitable varnish, and subsequently apply it to a surface that was not originally prepared for this. In order for the piano lacquer to look smooth, the coating does not contain foreign inclusions and impurities, the material should be applied on a perfectly flat plane, devoid of any roughness.
Car tuning
Car enthusiasts are also significant trendsetters in the use of this type of varnish. Neither self-taught amateurs nor professional workshops providing auto-tuning services disdain such a finish.
Moreover, they cover the details of their cars and the venerable giants of the automotive industry. Previously, only elements made of natural wood could be painted, but now there is a more budgetary option - lacquered plastic, which is passed off as a real noble gloss.
Piano lacquer in cars is undeniablylooks luxurious, and this is one of the hallmarks of luxury cars. But, in addition to beauty, there is a significant drawback in varnished surfaces - dust settles on them very quickly, they are easily scratched. Care for parts covered with piano lacquer, you need special microfiber cloths. You can replace them with napkins for wiping monitors and lenses. With the help of such accessories, the surface can be easily polished to a mirror finish, while leaving no streaks or small lint on it.
Types of varnish
As mentioned earlier, the first gloss was applied using oil-based varnishes. Such coatings had many disadvantages: the application process itself was laborious, the material had a very specific aroma and required a long drying time. It was replaced by more practical polyester, water-based polyurethane and nitrocellulose varnishes. The latter are more often used for making furniture, but they are of little use for decorating cars, acoustics and musical instruments - they lack neither strength nor sufficient color depth.
You can use epoxy resin to solve this problem, the result will be pretty good. Polyesters also look very good on the surface, and their color variety is also pleasing. Polyurethane piano lacquer, according to user reviews, is easy to apply, in addition, it practically does not smell, which is an additional plus when you need to work in a poorly ventilated room.
Preparation is a priorityassignment
In order for the glossy varnish to lay flat on the surface, it should be pre-treated. The final appearance of the lacquered product very much depends on how well the craftsman polished the plane and made the starting layer of its coating.
Experts advise starting the piano lacquer finish by sanding the surface, while cleaning it from the dust resulting from the grouting (it is best to use a vacuum cleaner). Neglecting this measure is fraught with the fact that microscopic polished particles will appear on the surface of the product after pouring the varnish, and then it will be completely impossible to get rid of them.
After grinding, the surface must be impregnated with nitro-lacquer, it is most convenient to work with a soft brush. The impregnation layer does not need to be made thick, because before applying the base, the primer must be thoroughly dried. The main task of nitro varnish is to create an insurmountable barrier between the wood and the finish coat.
How to properly apply varnish on the surface?
The very application of varnish on a well-prepared surface should not cause difficulties. If epoxy is used for work, it is recommended to heat it up before pouring, this will help get rid of air bubbles. Another nuance is the proportions in which the resin is diluted with a special hardener. Experts share a secret and advise using eight parts of resin instead of ten for one part of thinner.
There are also special imported varnishes, which cover the product in two layers (for example, Tikkurila), but the high cost -their main drawback. Such a coating is applied with a spray gun, but you can get by with a regular foam sponge.
Marketing move
Manufacturers, realizing the increased popularity of piano lacquer, offer customers alternative coatings. These can be special heavy-duty films that, after pasting, cannot be distinguished from high-quality varnish, and even plastic lining. In the automotive industry, plastic elements with a glossy surface are gaining more and more popularity. Such items look presentable, are easy to care for and are in demand by buyers.
