A warning on low sheen lacquers

Over the last few years we have seen an ever increasing demand for very low sheen lacquers.

Whereas a few years ago most clients chose 30% satin as the lowest sheen level we are now commonly asked to spray joinery in 10%, 5% and even 0% matt sheen levels.

Liming white finishes / Cerusing

Over the last few years we have seen a revival of a polishing system that dates back to the 1800s. Known as Liming White or Cerusing, it is the application of a white paste during the polishing process that results in a white fleck in the pores of the timber.

Light stains over darker timbers

Currently there are two major trends in staining. Joinery is either being stained extremely dark, or extremely light. The dark stains commonly being requested are usually variations of Black or variations of Dark blackish/brown. Lighter stains are usually variations of white or slightly tinted whites.

Lacquer Additives.

Despite our industry being quite small there is still many hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent every year on research and development. Much of this research is completed by overseas suppliers who’s markets in Europe, Asia, and America are many times larger than ours.

Gluing MDF is not the same as welding steel.

Recently we had a new client who asked us to paint some MDF shop fittings. Not a difficult task to complete nor should it be too complicated for our multi talented team of polishers and painters. Problem was he had constructed a number of large bulkheads by butt gluing large sections of MDF together and then puttying up the joins.

Holding finished goods in stock due to delays on site

Recently we had a client pick up a very large project from us after completion of the polishing. Six truck loads left our factory, invoices were sent out and all was complete.

Stories you won’t believe

More and more often we are asked to make up a colour in a half strength version. The story normally goes something like this; cabinet makers client can’t quite find the exact colour they want, they like a certain colour but it feels a little darker than they want, they ask the cabinet maker to prepare a sample in a half strength version.