What do you use for laquer?

[Yagyu Jubei Takemori]

I am going to make some boxes for storing things and would like to make them appear lacquered. Right now I am stuck at mixing charcoal dust with epoxy glue and painting it on. This will work but I think it will get pricey fast. Any other recommendations?

[Noriko]

I used an acrylic gloss/varnish. I painted my box with black acrylic paint, drew on my little gold designs and when the whole thing dried, put on several coats of varnish. I got it to be pretty darn shiny. Granted, my box was tiny but you can probably find cans of the stuff at a hardware store or good craft store.

box:

[Saionji Shonagon]

High gloss polyurethane is available in most paint departments and can be painted or sprayed over your decorated wood.

I also ended up using a ValSpar high gloss black paint (because my hardware store didn't have small cans of Rustoleum on the day I ran out). It's oil based and took a lot longer to dry than the Rustoleum, but resulted in an extremely glossy, lacquer-like finish to the top of my sugoroku wodefordhall.com/sugoroku.htm box.

[Deleted]

I've used Minwax "Polyshades" polyurethane for a bunch of stuff. It's an oil-based polyurethane with stain mixed into it. The downside is that your coats need to be really even, or you can really see it. The up side is that the color is translucent and gets deeper and deeper as you add coats. It's waterproof enough to be left out in the rain for a week at pennsic, and reasonably durable.

I just noticed the other day that it now comes in black. I'm going to try it out in the near future.

Link - www.minwax.com/products/one_step_stain_and_finishes/polyshades.html

I think I put like 14 coats of "Bombay Mahogany" on this inro - www.ee0r.com/proj/images/inro-altoids.jpg

[Noriko]

Jan 12, 2011 17:21:30 GMT -5 @ishiyama said:

I think I put like 14 coats of "Bombay Mahogany" on this inro - www.ee0r.com/proj/images/inro-altoids.jpg

Wow, that is really awesome!


(my box only passes the 10 foot rule- I'm not exactly good at applying even coats of things and up close, you can see the brush strokes... meh...)

[Saionji Shonagon]

Jan 12, 2011 17:21:30 GMT -5 @ishiyama said:

waterproof enough to be left out in the rain for a week at pennsic, and reasonably durable.

Or used as a bar top - the sugoroku box has had its share of sake at many a House of Cheerful Monkeys function. Polyurethane is a good option of your storage boxes are going to be used outdoors.

[Yagyu Jubei Takemori]

Anyone know a source where I can get a real lacquered box? I would make one myself but me and poison Oak already have a long history that I do not want to revisit.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Jan 13, 2011 11:43:47 GMT -5 Yagyu Jubei Takemori said:

Anyone know a source where I can get a real lacquered box?

How big a box are we talking about?

eBay, maybe.

[Yagyu Jubei Takemori]

small like altoids box size.

[Saionji Shonagon]

Real vintage lacquer boxes in nice condition can be expensive, particularly if the seller understands their value. That said, I occasionally get lucky at the monthly flea market here in Alameda and am willing to keep an eye out if I find something at a reasonable price the next time I go.
And, as mentioned, eBay sometimes turns up interesting things. Search on "lacquer" and "makie," or "makie-e"

[Deleted]

Jan 14, 2011 23:11:08 GMT -5 Yagyu Jubei Takemori said:

small like altoids box size.

For something that small, if you're making the boxes yourself, it might be not entirely insane to use "cashew lacquer". I'm not sure how the price might compare to your epoxy method. I wouldn't want to use it for something large, but for small items like you describe it should be reasonably affordable.

Cashew lacquer is real lacquer, only produced from cashew nut oil instead of urushiol. I think it's been discussed here on Tousando in the past. Some people may still be allergic to it, but it's supposedly possible to buy it in the US (not that I've tried).

[Yagyu Jubei Takemori]

I would like a pre-made one to show/use as an example of the effect I am trying for. I know it will be costly, hence wanting a small one.

[rknack]

Jan 16, 2011 12:41:04 GMT -5 @ishiyama said:

For something that small, if you're making the boxes yourself, it might be not entirely insane to use "cashew lacquer". I'm not sure how the price might compare to your epoxy method. I wouldn't want to use it for something large, but for small items like you describe it should be reasonably affordable.

Cashew lacquer is real lacquer, only produced from cashew nut oil instead of urushiol. I think it's been discussed here on Tousando in the past. Some people may still be allergic to it, but it's supposedly possible to buy it in the US (not that I've tried).

Unfortunately, kashu (cashew) lacquer can no longer be exported from Japan - somehow, they've got the idea that terrorists could use it in some way (NO JOKE!), so they banned its export last fall.

HOWEVER, I just found out that you CAN buy "user quantities" of real urushi lacquer online. Apparently, it can't be stocked in the US by sellers, though. Try www.hyper-cafe.com. They're often out of stock, but they do carry and sell it.