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Can Floetrol be added to polyurethane?

Can Floetrol be added to polyurethane?

Reply to
JOy
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It would help if you said what Floetrol is !!!

Reply to
Paintedcow

| >Can Floetrol be added to polyurethane? | | It would help if you said what Floetrol is !!! |

It's an additive for acrylic (water base) paint to slow the drying time, causing the brush strokes to settle out better. It's good for things like painting louvre doors, where the paint may start to set up before an area is finished.

Reply to
Mayayana

Thanks. If it's for water based paints, it wont work on polyurethane.

Many years ago, I brush painted a truck with Rustoleum (oil base) and used some similar product but it was made for oil based paints. It worked quite well. I think it was called Penetrol. Dont know if they still sell it, or if it would work on poly.... The best advice, "If in doubt, call the manufacturer".

Reply to
Paintedcow

| Thanks. If it's for water based paints, it wont work on polyurethane. |

No, but sometimes people refer to things like Varathane as water-base polyurethane. Though that stuff dries very smoothly. For that reason I was hesitant to answer the OP. It sounds like they don't know what they're asking about and/or couldn't be bothered to explain it.

| Many years ago, I brush painted a truck with Rustoleum (oil base) and | used some similar product but it was made for oil based paints. It | worked quite well. I think it was called Penetrol. Dont know if they | still sell it, or if it would work on poly.... The best advice, "If in | doubt, call the manufacturer". |

They still sell it. I used it for years with interior oil trim paint. It was great. But it was radically changed with the move to accomodate EPA fume regulations and is no longer the same product. I haven't tried the new version. I doubt it's any good. I've yet to see an oil paint that meets the EPA standards that isn't junk. So I'm guessing that Penetrol is a similar case. Only some brands in quarts, which are exempt, are worth using. I think Rustoleum is still good, but I've never actually used it very much. Sherwin Williams quarts are the only brand I currently know of that I'm sure are still good. (Benjamin Moore downgraded their whole line so that they could conform while still selling gallons. As a result, they no longer make any good oil paints. SW took the approach of eliminating gallons in order to keep making the same good paint. Pratt and Lambert did the same. But they've now been bought by SW and seem to be disappearing.)

I once brush-painted my own pickup with One Shot sign lettering enamel. Beautiful stuff that dried perfectly smooth and stayed tough. It was in a class of its own; a specialized commercial paint. But that, also, got downgraded.

Reply to
Mayayana

Floetrol is made for latex (water based) paint. It might work to help level water based poly. I wouldn't use it in a solvent based finish

Reply to
clare

I don't need to know that. Of course it can be added. Just pour or plop it in.

Reply to
Micky

What about water based polyurethane?????

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

I got curious. This youtube hates it but others follow that seem to like it:

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If it is designed for latex paints, I would not use it.

Reply to
Frank

I never knew they made it as a water base. Actually, I dont know how it can be called "polyurethane" if it's water based. I though that polyurethane means it's in a class of it's own, but closer to an oil base.

I recall first learning about polyurethane in the early 1970s, and was told it was superior to the old varnish. I also heard it was similar to an epoxy coating. I never really questioned any of that, I just tried it and liked it. I have not used any of that sort of thing in years. THese days, moldings come pre-finished, and I use that. I was never a big fan of anything that involves using a paint brush. I did make some patio tables though and used tung oil, which I like the look, it's durable outdoors, and just gets wiped on.

Reply to
Paintedcow

On 01/01/2016 8:28 AM, snipped-for-privacy@unlisted.moc wrote: ...

Need to read up...the 'polyurethane' is simply the liquified plastic component which is included in the carrier for application. Initially, all were oil-based, yes, but EPA (and CA) have fixed that by introduction of such strict VOC limitations that couldn't be met other than by eliminating the hydrocarbons (the oil carrier, iow).

Oil-based polyurethanes are elastic resins in liquid form, mainly comprise of acids derived from vegetable oil, nitrogen-based chemical amalgams, and isocyanates, suspended in mineral spirits. As noted above, restrictions on emissions has led to water-based polyurethane products, basically the suspension of polyurethane in water. Needless to say, there's some significant alchemy going on inside the can with surfactants and the like to create a miscible mixture, but that's the basic product.

A polyurethane coating cures when some of its chemical elements form powerful links with one another after reacting with atmospheric oxygen (hence the "poly" as opposed to simply "urethane").

There's now a whole new class of "water-based oil-modified" which are low VOC-compliant, water-cleanup but with the characteristic amber color of oil-based as opposed to the clear water-based.

"Superior" is pretty generic term; as with most any product they have strengths and weaknesses and specific applications where they're the cat's meow and others, 'not so much'.

The wiping varnishes (of which the tung oil products are one) are indeed very easy to apply, but they're one of the least durable of all finishes. They have the advantage they're easy to repair/restore by another application.

Reply to
dpb

Two kinds of consumer poly:

  1. oil base which is a combination of alkyd and polyurethane resins.
  2. water base which is a combination of acrylic and polyurethane resins.

The oil base is far superior. The only advantage I can see to the water base - besides the water clean up - is that it colors the wood very little.

Reply to
dadiOH

Oren posted for all of us...

Find the exit?

Reply to
Tekkie®

Oren posted for all of us...

He was confused with all the trol parts, he thought he must post. Ask about Flomax.

Reply to
Tekkie®

dpb posted for all of us...

HAAA, that is funny. HG ain't reading nuthin'

Reply to
Tekkie®

I'm in the Hardwood Floor industry. Years ago I use to use Penetrol in my oil based polyurethane, and it worked very well. It gave me more working time when I had to jump from one room to another then come down an ajointing part of the house such as a hallway and was able to go back over the doorway of each room without pulling or dragging the polyurethane. It also flow out real nice. I always used Penetrol on hot days when I would coat a floor for the reason it gave me more work time before dragging or pulling the polyurethane when went back over it such as doorways etc. I wish I could still get it. But the Flood Floetrol CAN NOT be used in water based polyurethane. Although there is an additive you can buy to slow down the drink time on water based finish. I'm not to sure who makes it , but I think Bona does.

Reply to
HWFman

On Sat, 10 Apr 2021 16:31:07 +0000, HWFman posted for all of us to digest...

or dragging the polyurethane. It also flow out real nice. I always used Penetrol on hot days when I would coat a floor for the reason it gave me more work time before dragging or pulling the polyurethane when went back over it such as doorways etc. I wish I could still get it. But the Flood Floetrol CAN NOT be used in water based polyurethane. Although there is an additive you can buy to slow down the drink time on water based finish. I'm not to sure who makes it , but I think Bona does.

I'm not sure, but, didn't you answer your own question?

Reply to
Tekkie©

From furnitureflippa.com:

Yes, you can thin water-based polyurethane using Floetrol however there is now a risk your water-based poly can turn yellow over time. Floetrol is designed for latex-based paints and is meant to improve flow when applying using a brush or roller. Since water-based polyurethane is already quite thin and flows quite easy it isn?t necessary when applying using a brush or roller.

If you are working in a warm work environment adding no more than 10% Floetrol to your water-based polyurethane could improve your flow during application. But water could also do the same effect, so in my opinion, I would stay away from Floetrol when using water-based polyurethane, it isn?t necessary.

I'll disagree about the equivalency of thinning with water - Floetrol and water behave significantly different as thinning / retarding agents.

Reply to
Clare Snyder

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