The Basics of Wood Glazing
More on pre-cat and post-cat wood coatings

The Basics of Wood GlazingLet’s begin some discussions on the subject of glazing. But first, I want to remind everyone that these embellishments are also a means to reduce adhesion. A lack of adhesion is the boogey man of coatings. With lower inter-coat adhesion, something can come off down the road.

Glazes come in a number of forms but they are all wet at some point. Once applied, some dry very quickly and some don’t dry well at all. Some dry very hard and some are quite soft. Again, this can affect adhesion.

Glazes are applied either over a seal coat (in a stain and clear coat process) or a color coat in a paint-grade process. The decision to scuff that surface or not, again, affects adhesion as well as the look of the glaze because glaze will “hang up” in those sanding scratches.

Dry glazes (buff-off glazes, powder glazes, etc.) are sprayed on and, because of the aggressive solvents in them, can stick pretty hard to the seal coat. Once dry (within about a minute or so), they are worked by using tee shirt material or a Scotch-Brite pad to buff the dry powder off as desired. The chemical resistance of your seal coat/color coat will affect that workability.

Wet glazes are sprayed on or applied with a brush or rag. If you can stain a door, you also have the skill set to glaze it. Wipe it on. Wipe it off. Leave the glaze thicker in places that you want it to show more. Tee shirt material is my favorite glazing material. I also dry brush the glaze if I want that kind of look.

Okay, the glaze has been applied and wiped to your satisfaction. Now it comes down to chemistry. Is it dry enough to clear coat? If not, when will it be or what do I have to do so that it can be?

Whatever you have done to this point, you should carefully read the instructions first. Also, a good discussion with someone familiar with using your particular glaze product would be a really handy thing.

More on this in the next installment. Until next time…spray on!

 

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