Currently, with wooden furniture, especially furniture or furniture, if you want to use them for a long time, varnish or paint on non-stick paints is the most effective measure.
They can both protect the wood for a longer lifespan while providing a more eye-catching appearance than the rustic look of the original wood.
At the same time, with varnish and PU paint, they will help you to recreate a new look for old furniture and furniture. And here is what we put together varnish and PU paint for beginners.
Learn about Varnishes and PU paints
One thing we do not need to doubt is that the wooden furniture after being used for a long time will surely get old and will be heavily dirty. Especially for types such as wooden furniture, wooden cabinets with many patterns, it is the place that contains the most dirt.
And removing dirt is the most difficult thing, no matter how clean you are, how often you clean it, you cannot guarantee dust free. So whether you should use varnish or repaint the furniture is the best solution.
#1 Varnishes
Varnish is a mixture that, when soaked with 90 degrees alcohol for about a day, will disappear and completely turn into a solution with a light brown color and luster. The main effect of varnish is to cover the surface of interior products and especially those made of wood with a protective layer.
When to use varnish?
- Furniture is old and faded
- Furniture is used for a long time and is scratched
- Furniture becomes dusty for a long time and cannot be cleaned
- Furniture is stained by spilled food or water
You should choose the best times to varnish, that will help us create the best color or keep the color as long as possible.
First of all, you should avoid wet rainy days, as varnish is difficult to dry, adhere to the wood and can retain odors.
If it is too sunny, the varnish layer can soak up too quickly, causing the varnish after layer to be damaged easily and cause flaking in patches. If on dry days it is dusty, the varnish layer will not be smooth and shiny.
The use of varnish
The varnish protects the original color of the furniture. It is the use of varnish as a way to change the wood products a new look. Turn these furniture into elegant, luxurious colors for your family’s living space.
Why should we use varnish for wooden furniture?
It is the paint coating that determines the durability and aesthetics of the furniture so if your furniture is peeling or scratched, varnish is the best option.
The varnish will provide a protective layer to the furniture so that they have a longer lifespan and a new one.
Warriors need armor to protect them, and so do wooden furniture, they need armor to keep them from getting scratched. And the armor of furniture is varnish, it can help the furniture increase longevity, avoid mold. This is considered the best method of wood protection.
People often confuse PU paint with varnish for the same, but in fact, varnish is different from PU paint in thickness. The thickness of the varnish is thinner than the PU paint. But varnishes are born to protect furniture, so they have a very high immunity. So now varnish is still the more choice for carpentry.
With varnish, you can completely renew your furniture, speaking is very simple, but how we can varnish a furniture set is not easy.
#2 PU paint
Polyurethane paint (PU) is a polymer which has many practical applications. PU paint is classified into two categories, namely rigid PU paint and foam PU paint. We only need to understand that PU paint is the paint used to paint on furniture products. PU paint works to protect, polish and smooth wood surfaces.
According to the simple language of the painters, PU paint is the paint to protect, polish and color natural wood, industrial wood in the most beautiful and smooth way. The composition of the paint also has only 3 main ingredients:
– Primer: In order to smooth the surface, conceal defects for better paint. You can imagine as painting the walls of the house, using plaster to smooth the surface when painting.
– Paint color: Depending on customers’ requirements, but most of the PU paints for wood have color paint elements in them, even more or less.
– Paint gloss: Many painters use PU paint, but it is true that this is a way to mix paint to create a gloss surface for the PU painting process for wood.
What Are the Pros and Cons of Varnish and PU paint?
#1 Varnish
- Pros
Varnishing is great for money-value wooden furniture and antiques
Varnish color is very natural
Varnishes are very environmentally friendly, non-toxic to humans
The varnish is the wooden body, so it will enhance the beauty of the wood grain
The varnish is quite durable and can be reworked afterward
- Cons
Its color scheme is quite limited with only two main colors: mahogany brown and cockroach brown
It is just a thin coating on the surface of furniture
Faster fading faster than using PU paint
Varnishing takes a lot of time and has to be done manually
#2 PU paint
- Pros
The PU paint is very water resistant and has good color fading resistance
It comes in a variety of categories to choose from
You can use PU coating machine to help you quickly complete the project
If compared to industrial use, it is more suitable than varnish
Create beautiful wood grain and paint quite durable
- Cons
The cost is higher than varnish
Toxic than varnish
How to Varnish Wooden Furniture?
#1 Materials to prepare
Prepare some sandpaper number P180, P240, P320, P400 and P600, the more sandpaper is used, the finer the furniture’s smoothness and fineness. And although the deterioration and the oldness of the item, we use different sandpaper times.
You should make a sanding lump, they will help work more efficiently and reduce hand pain.
The brush to paint varnish
Get the varnish solution ready
#2 Step
Step 1: Furniture polish
Use prepared sandpaper to polish the surface of the furniture. Please hit carefully without missing any corners to paint evenly and not patchy.
Step 2: Clean the furniture
You should not use soap or detergents to clean, only use water and towels.
Step 3: Repair
If your furniture has large cracks or scratches you should use wood cockroach glue and sawdust to repair, then use sandpaper to smooth the surface. Don’t forget to clean the surface after sanding.
Step 4: Paint varnish
Like wall paint, you should choose the right pattern and apply it, but you can be flexible because the varnish is very thin and its coverage is high so you don’t need to be too precise.
Let’s first brush on a thin layer of varnish, then sand with a fine sandpaper. Wipe the wood surface with damp cloths to remove dirt. Let it dry before applying to the next layer.
Repeat these steps 2 to 3 times.
How to Prepare PU paint and What about Painting Process?
You can prepare PU paint according to the following formulas:
– Prepare primer: 2 primers + 1 hard + 3 gasoline
– Preparation of color coating: 1 hard + 5 gasoline + color crystals (reduce color crystals accordingly)
– Prepare paint polish: 2 polish + 1 hard + gasoline (reduce accordingly).
The PU painting process is quite simple, you go step by step:
Step 1: Sanding and surface treatment
After satisfactory sanding with P240 sanding paper, depending on the required paint color sample, whether to leave the wood grain or paint the gloss, decide whether to powder or not.
However, most of the PU coating system uses surface gloss paint. When performing powder coating, it is important to pay attention on whether the paint pattern requires the appearance of wood lines or not.
If so, the putty should be a pigment (usually black or brown). It is necessary to perform this coating step in order to fill the wooden hearts as well as imperfections on the surface. Failure to do this will take a lot of effort and material to seal these gaps after painting.
Step 2: First primer
This is a colorless coating, usually mixed in the ratio of 2: 1: 3 (2 primers, 1 hard, 3 gasoline) mentioned above. This percentage can also add, reduce or add other additives to adjust the evaporation rate of the paint.
In hot weather, the rapid evaporation will cause the paint surface to become heart attack or, worse, air bubbles, which will take a lot of work to repair.
If you do step 1 well, you only need one primer step and this helps you to reduce costs, materials and labor for your PU coating. Then paint evenly with a good quality spray gun.
Step 3: Sanding and spraying the second time
We continue sanding with P320 sandpaper, the painters think that the second priming is not necessary.
However, the second primer has the effect of increasing the smoothness of the wooden surface, making the paint color more beautiful and the surface smooth.
Some establishments aim to save paint and effort, so they skip this step, resulting in a product’s coating life that is usually only a few years or even lower.
To have a beautiful wooden furniture PU painting process you should perform these steps sequentially, on the material you still use according to the ratio mixed in step 2. The drying time is 25-30 minutes.
Step 4: Spray color
You should do the painting twice. At first, you only paint about 90% of the required color sample, then wait a while and proceed to paint the second time on the wooden surface, complete 100% of the required color sample.
This time paint will be darker than any missing color. It takes a bit of experience to do this at this step. Coloring is an important step in deciding the whole PU painting of furniture so you need a sealed room to avoid dust, enough air circulation.
Step 5: Polish Paint the surface
After waiting for the paint to dry, we proceed to polish paint the surface. Many people paint one more primer to protect the painted surface, but according to our mixing method, we have primed beforehand so we do not need it.
And we immediately move through the polish painting process. There are gloss materials like 10%, 20%, 50%, 70% and 100% matte. The mixing ratio as mentioned above, this coating has the effect of stretching and polishing the finished surface to increase the value of the furniture. Spraying polish paint shouls carry out in a place where there is no dust. Basically completed PU painting for wooden furniture.
Step 6: Storage
The preservation is quite important, after painting is finished, there should be an area to wait for the product to dry to avoid dust and paint dust. This greatly affects the aesthetics of the latter product.
Completely dry waiting time is usually 12 to 16 hours for the whole PU coating process. When the paint film tends to be stable but not completely dry, the total solvent evaporation is about 75-90%. If the evaporation rate is reduced at this stage, the resistance to white turning and the surface gloss will increase. When the paint film has completely dried, the final evaporation is about 10%.
Related to Varnish and PU Paint
| Top Sales | Product Link Related to Article | Price |
|---|---|---|
 | Rust-Oleum 207008 Marine Spar Varnish, Quart | from $19.84 |
 | Minwax 63205444 Helmsman Spar Urethane, quart, Satin | from $20.21 |
 | Epifanes Clear Varnish | from $34.45 |
 | TotalBoat Gleam Marine Spar Varnish, Gloss and Satin Polyurethane Finish for Wood, Boats and Outdoor Furniture | from $24.99 |
