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Actually, to be specific, the nozzle on the spray can sucks. I tried to swap its ordinary round/cone spray nozzle with the one from the can of Deft lacquer, but no such luck, the one on the Deft can is some sort of seemingly proprietary design — the ‘adjustable fan spray’ thing is theirs alone, but I figured it would at least attach to other cans, nope.

If you’ve been following along you’ll know that I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the finish from the brush on enamel. It just wasn’t smooth enough. I can’t find black lacquer by any other company than Rustoleum, so I figured that it should work okay. AAGH! That nozzle is terrible!

I went about spraying it like I’d been spraying the lacquer, but I admit that I totally applied it wrong. I’m not accustomed to spray paint, and while I know how to do it, I don’t really have all that much experience using it. I put on way too heavy of a coat of this black lacquer, because I was going about spraying it like the other lacquer; that was a mistake.

After this little episode I had this afternoon, where I found myself with quite a little headache and rather too nauseated for my own good, I bought a real respirator, one with dual ‘volatile organics’ filters that screen out solvents. I strongly recommend, as in insist, that anyone spraying anything make that small financial sacrifice to protect their lungs and nervous system. I will never again spray anything containing solvents without wearing it. I did say that if I’d be using the lacquer anymore that I would buy one anyway. ;)

I need a second can of the black lacquer, it would figure, right? I also need to do a bit of “whoops repair” and get rid of the runs I put on the sides. They’re not terrible, but they’re not exactly pleasing to look at either. The Deft clear lacquer didn’t run at all, no matter how thickly I applied it. I’d say that this Rustoleum stuff is just overpriced black spraypaint, but it certainly isn’t given that I absolutely wreaked of solvent fumes.

At this point, hmmm… I’m not sure how it’s really looking. A second can of the black lacquer should complete it nicely, I think. Toward the end of the spraying process I finally starting getting the knack for it, and it appears to be suitably black all over, there are just a lot of heavy spots.

Using the glue to seal in the edges of the MDF was a disaster. When I went to wet sand the glue reactivated, lol. I had a horrible sticky mess… live and learn… again. Make this a lesson, anytime you expose bare MDF it must be primed again.

So, hmm… I don’t know if Walmart sells the Rustoleum Lacquer, I never bothered to look when I was getting other supplies. I’m not so sure I want to bother going out there just to ’see’ if they have it, only to find they don’t and then need to make that trip again tomorrow evening, but stopping at Lowe’s instead.

In other news, relating to furniture, I started on the blue desk yesterday. The paint remover is absolutely disgusting stuff. I think I’ll just use 60 grit sandpaper… it’s much less messy and it’ll actually be a faster process. I should restate, in starting on the blue desk, I’m only doing the drawers thus far. I’ll need to wait until I can get some help moving the actual desk and also be certain that the weather will be nice for several days, because I need to make room for the desk in the shed, heh. The drawers are coming along nicely though… completely sanded and with the first application of the Merlot stain. We decided to do her desk (as in, the woman, her desk being the blue one) in the Merlot, and I’ll do mine in the Ebony.

My goodness, what a difference stripping off that horrible blue paint has made! I think the refinishing of that desk will be quite a nice accomplishment, something I can be very proud of doing. It’s also a way of me doing something very nice for my mom, though it’s mutually beneficial — I benefit from having to work my ass off — I mean get more experience with the process, but she benefits by having a nice desk for once. :-)