Dull, matte, satin, semi-gloss and gloss at various levels can all be sprayed as final topcoat. We normally spray satin as it gives wood a more natural look. Gloss can look a little like plastic in comparison.
But there are two other issues here that cause us to prefer satin.
The first is called orange peel. When you shoot any finish, the spray is made up of tiny droplets. When these hit a surface, they tend to flatten out, but never get completely flat. Close examination reveals a surface made up of hills and valleys that look somewhat like orange peel.
The second is dust. Dust and finish carry opposite electrical charges. So any dust in the air (and there will be dust no matter how clean the spray booth happens to be) will be attracted to the finish before it flashes over.
With satin, neither of these surface imperfections are generally a problem. But with gloss, these imperfections are quite visible - especially on darker surfaces, the worst of which is black.
The solution is to hand rub them to high gloss. This process begins by sanding the surface flat and continuing to sand with higher and higher grits until you are at about 3000 grit. The surface is then polished until all the sanding marks are polished out and the surface is like glass. That is a true piano finish. Most finished being sold as piano gloss are simply gloss topcoat.
If you ever see a show car and wonder why you can't get that kind of shine on your car, wonder no more. The show car is rubbed out to high gloss. Your car is just shot with a gloss topcoat.
Of course, we can shoot any topcoat a customer wants. I just want to make sure they understand what they will be getting.
- Jim
