No VOC containing lacquers in New York State?

[Ken Wood]

I posted recently looking for a water resistant sprayable lacquer. Several of you highly recommended a Sherman Williams CAB Acrylic Lacquer. I went to the Sherman Williams web site, located the product, and printed the technical data sheet. Last Saturday I took this document to my local Sherman Williams paint store. The salesman, who was very knowledgeable about wood finishing, spraying, and so forth flipped his wig and launched into a monologue about restrictions of VOC's in New York State. He claimed that the only type of lacquer that he could get for me would be a water-based compound and that none of these would have any water resistance for applications such as table tops. I said that this wasn't what I was looking for. He said that he would make some inquiries this week and see if he can locate a gallon of this material in the back of some Sherman Williams warehouse someplace. So I responded that even if he could get me some of the stuff, long-term supply just wouldn't be there. He said, "Right you are." So I went down the road to my local Home Depot and paid an outrageous amount of money for three aerosol cans of spray lacquer. I guess I'll be able to finish off the five picture frames in time for Christmas.

I find this a little confusing. I see that there are web sites that will sell me sprayable oil based lacquers that I could have shipped here. But, I don't find a web site that will ship me the Sherman Williams CAB acrylic lacquer product.

Anybody know how to get this lacquer? Are there any other products that would work just as well?

I sincerely thank you well in advance for your response. A very merry and joyous Christmas to all.

[Doug Miller]

Have you tried a Sherwin Williams store in another state?

[J. Clarke]

Sherwin-Williams seems to work only through their own network of dealers and seem to consider CAB-Acrylic to be a "pro" product. They also have low-VOC lacquer of various kinds and a waterborne that will probably do fine, although if their paint guy says that theirs is crap then maybe you should take his word for it.

CAB Acrylic is really a classification and not a brand--many manufacturers make coatings using that chemistry and I doubt that there is a huge difference between them in performance. Find a real paint store and they should be able to fix you up. Valspar and ML Campbell are two manufacturers that I know of off the top of my head that produce a CAB acrylic but there are others.

You might want to consider a precatalyzed lacquer (note--precats have a shelf life of several months and they _mean_ it) or a polyurethane if you need durability.

There's an article on waterborne coatings in the current Fine Woodworking that you might want to take a look at. The best of them are pretty good.

Personally I brushed several coats of Minwax polycrylic on my workbench a few years back and it's still in surprisingly good shape. And it is far from a premium coating--I'd expect something like ML Campbell Ultrastar or Fuhr 355 to last a very long time on a dining table. Note though that most of the waterbornes are water-clear going on--even the clearest conventional lacquers darken the appearance of the wood a little but the waterbornes for the most part don't.

[Nova]

Here's a quote from a web site date "May - June 2005"

"Going, going, gone? Environmental restrictions are making oil-based paints and stains scarce in some areas

This past New Year's Day, painters in the Mid-Atlantic states woke up with more than a hangover. New regulations that significantly reduce the allowable content of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in most paints and stains took effect on Jan. 1 along the East Coast, so many popular oil-based coatings will effectively disappear from those areas.

The new laws stem from a collective effort known as the Ozone Transport Commission that aims to reduce air pollution in the heavily congested Northeast Corridor. The commission includes 13 Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states, all of which are expected to adopt the same VOC restrictions within a year or two. The states affected as of Jan. 1 are New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware, as well as the District of Columbia and 10 counties in Northern Virginia."

IIRC, my local paint salesman told me they would be allowed to sell off the products they had on hand. Once they were gone they could no longer sell gallons of high VOC paints (note the key word "gallons"). I believe quart sales are still allowed.

[rich]

Sometimes you have to become an outlaw. With the internet, you can often obtain items which are prohibited in your home area by the folks who want to protect the chillin, the little bunny rabbits, and you. Ammo, cigarettes, lacquer, and whatever else you need is often available by mail order.

I d> Ken Wood wrote:

[root]

Yes, this is yet another example of getting things exactly wrong.

It's like the poor guy wanting to buy a little can of lye so he could clean some rust off something.

Of course, now you have to buy lye in 50 lb bags --- ironically the same size the actual meth labs buy it in. That's still legal.

In the case of lacquer, we've got furniture manufacturers that spray more VOCs from lacquer into the air every day than probably every woodworking enthusast combined over the course of a year. I'm pretty sure Ethan Allen doesn't use thousands of little rattle cans.

(not to pick on EA specifically, they're probably one of the more responsible and reputable mfgrs, and have switched to HVLP and whatnot)

Naturally, rather than punish the offenders the legislation was directed at *you*...the people.... The little guy who wanted to go into a paint store so he could make a picture frame (and have it dry before xmas) for his family.

They used to make (and maybe still do) "brushable" lacquers. I d> I posted recently looking for a water resistant sprayable lacquer.

[Ken Wood]

Curiously, the salesman from the Sherman Williams paint store called me back yesterday and told me that he was mistaken. That, in fact, the sprayable CC-F23 CAB-Acrylic lacquer that I was looking for is, and will be, available. And, he stated that he had a sprayable lacquer that would perform even better than the specific item I was looking for. So, I have on order, a gallon on this sprayable lacquer that he recommended, along with a gallon of vinyl sanding sealer to go underneath it that is recommended in the spec sheet. Both gallons should be in this Friday.

Spraying the wife's jewelry box for Christmas will be a little tight. But, I'll let you all know how it goes.

When I pick this stuff up on Friday I will be sure to check on the long- term availability of this material.

[Scott Lurndal]

My suspicion is that EA et alia will spray in spray-booths using appropriate methods to prevent the VOCs from escaping into the atmosphere.

scott