Brush-on clearcoat?

[moro]

I hate spraying. Could someone recommend a clearcoat that I can brush on? Hopefully something not too toxic?

I'm tempted to try crazy glue, which I've used on a fretless fingerboard before. I was hoping for something a little easier to work with, though.

Thanks.

[John Lyons]

Crazy glue is a bad idea. It's not really clear and it will not let you brush it on long enough for it to dry. Plus it would cost $50 or more to coat your pedal.

Try Polyurathane. If it's too thick you can thin it will Naptha (dies faster) or mineral spirits. It's not 100% clear, it has a little bit of yellow tint to it. Read the can to learn how to apply it with a brush.

John

[moro]

Try Polyurathane. If it's too thick you can thin it will Naptha (dies faster) or mineral spirits. It's not 100% clear, it has a little bit of yellow tint to it. Read the can to learn how to apply it with a brush.

Thanks. I was wondering about the Minwax wipe on poly, but I wasn't sure if it was ok to use on metal.

I guess I'll make a trip to the hardware store.

[mojotron]

'Future' floor finish is more like single coat pour on, no brush needed really - you can use one if you wanted to have a little more control, but it is absolutely my favorite!

http://www.floorcareproducts.com/floor-finish/index.asp

Dries fast, cleans up with Windex and nothing toxic...

If you mess-up - spray Windex on it - wipe - and start over.

Very inexpensive too 

[moro]

'Future' floor finish is more like single coat pour on, no brush needed really - you can use one if you wanted to have a little more control, but it is absolutely my favorite!

That sounds cool. I'll try it out. Thanks!

[mojotron]

I think it was Mark Hammer that got me started with using Future, I do use one coat of polyurethane (poly) or auto-lacquer if I am using slide-off decals for labeling too. That keeps them in place better, but I bet it would be just fine without the coat of poly or lacquer.

If you use Future, just throw it on there and get even coverage in one semi-thick coat. Little bubbles will form if you use something like one of those sponge brushes, but don't worry about small brush-strokes, fogginess or bubbles - they all go away after sitting for an hour or so. The only down side to Future is that you have to work fast - you have about 30 seconds to use a brush before you compromise your evenness - but you only need about 10 seconds. Also you want to stay way from doing a really thick coat with that stuff - it clings like there is no tomorrow, but it is not hard/brittle like paint; so going thicker is not really better. Oh, another plus, it shines like crazy and you can't sand it, the down side of that is that you can't sand out bumps in the paint underneath it. Take a look at my clear coat experiments:



From the left:

A FF-clone (finished in unbuffed lacquer), then a Fat-boostered (finished in Future), then a Y-box (finished in Poly), and a FF-Ge-Clone (finished by taking a thick coat of poly, placing a sheet of clear plastic - held by the poly underneath - then covered with poly - believe me, you don't want to go there!)

Ok, so you can get an idea of the kind of finish you will end up with, using each method.

• The lacquer is super-tough and would really shine if I buffed it; but I like the satin finish better. But, whoo who, fumes!!!
• The Future, ignore the chips in the paint - that is all under the Future... well you can tell in that light that Future does not eat into the paint below it, it just forms a uniform coating over it - so any imperfection in the surface below has to be worked out before the Future coat; I just threw it on, no sanding of the paint at all - it shines like crazy!! Another thing, you can just slop a bunch of Future on if you are in a hurry and your box is looking a little beat from abuse, no disassembly, just clean the dirt off and don't get too much on the connections and/or around the pots. Let it dry and you are good to go. It all comes off pretty easy if you don't like the dunk-and-go method - but this can wreck pots if you are too sloppy and get some inside.
  
• On the poly box you can't really see it, but I baked this cover under a heat lamp for a little too long and the clear has an amberness to it; kind of a cool effect, but it was not what I was shooting for.Using poly or other clear coats, baking gives you an option to have the clearcoat flow into and pool up in some of the imperfections of the surface below - so the final finish is more uniform
  

[moro]

Nice. I love the wet look of the Future.

A bunch of enclosures are on my way. Hopefully, they'll get here before the weekend so I can play around with the finish.