Nitrocellulose lacquer won't dry properly on a lid

[Carl Meyer]

I have had the same problem with wood that had been stripped, but must have
had some residue of varnish deep in the grain.  The lacquer would not dry
but be gummy and sticky.  I assume the varnish residue is poisoning the
lacquer. Steel wooling it and repeated spraying more lac finally did it.  A
thin coat of shellac should seal it and allow the finish to dry.  I haven't
tried it but I'm told that shellac is the finishers friend.  If the original
finish was shellac it shouldn't have been a problem.  Perhaps the lid had
been refinished with varnish at one time.  That would explain the other
parts being free of the problem.

Finishing can bring out many weird problems.

Carl Meyer Ptg assoc
Santa Clara, Ca.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Calin Tantareanu" <dnu@fx.ro>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 9:09 AM
Subject: Nitrocellulose lacquer won't dry properly on a lid


> Hello all!
>
> We have started spraying the small part of the lid of a Hamburg Steinway O
> (can be seen on my website http://calintantareanu.tripod.com/piano/ ) on
> Sunday and the nitrocellulose lacquer (colored black) isn't dry even
today,
> in some places. Why is this happening?
> The same lacquer sprayed on other parts of the same piano (music desk
etc.)
> dried
> properly.
> I should mention that this is the first coat, on the sanded veneer, and
that
> the piano was previously finished in black shellac (I think).
>
> Thanks for your help!
>
>
>
>  Calin Tantareanu
> ----------------------------------------------------
>  http://calintantareanu.tripod.com
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
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