Laquer Thinner

J

JC Daniel

Promoted Users
I have a friend that came by my shop and saw 885 reducer sitting on the bench, he said "why do you use urethane reducer"? I said that is what we use in urethane based products, he told me that he only uses laquer thinner in his base coat. I have been down this road before with another guy who says he is the best painter around and uses the same laquer thinner. I told them that I am not going to take a chance at messing up a $1000.00 gallon of paint with anything that it does not call for, they ride me for not jumping on their saving money gimmick. Do you guys run into any of these fellows?
 
I rarely talk to people about painting, but with anything else when it comes to saving money with risky moves like that I always reply with "No shit, thats cool" and I move on with life.

My buddy once told me he was having and issue with fisheyes and another painter told him to add gasoline to paint....wtf is that?? I don't even entertain conversations like.
 
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Todays lacquer thinners are mostly real low quality compared to the ones
30 yrs ago, they've gotten so bad that I won't even use them with my woodworking
finish that calls for lacquer thinner. On the woodworking forums I've heard from many
that have problems and I tell them to switch to urethane reducer like Barry told me
years ago, it works much better.
The thing is, there is still some "good" lacquer thinner from some major brands
out there but it costs as much as urethane reducer and most times even more.
So no, don't use it.
 
orangejuiced86 said:
I rarely talk to people about painting, but with anything else when it comes to saving money with risky moves like that I always reply with "No shit, thats cool" and I move on with life.

My buddy once told me he was having and issue with fisheyes and another painter told him to add gasoline to paint....wtf is that?? I don't even entertain conversations like.
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Gasoline lol. Man
 
'68 Coronet R/T said:
Just ordered 5 gallons from O'Reilly Auto Parts. MasterPro is the brand name and set me back $86.06 with tax. Cheapest I could find at any stores near me.
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I uses to buy the gallon at Walmart for like 20 or 22....then Sherwin Williams in the same shopping center had 5 gallon for 75...then when I bought my basecoat (45 mins away) I casually asked how much was the 5 gallon jug they said 35. I was surprised. So I bought 2. Have plenty now
 
Last wash thinner I got a few weeks back was $41 for 5 gallons. Buying it anyplace other than your paint jobber you pay a lot more. Home Dept or Lowes, forget about it. And the box store stuff is super low grade. Won't hardly clean anything.
 
Chris_Hamilton said:
Last wash thinner I got a few weeks back was $41 for 5 gallons. Buying it anyplace other than your paint jobber you pay a lot more. Home Dept or Lowes, forget about it. And the box store stuff is super low grade. Won't hardly clean anything.
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There were three paint shops here at one time, now I'm not sure if we have any. Two of them closed for sure and the last one was quite expensive hence buying all my stuff from Barry and Chad.
 
I know some guys who still use lacquer primmer and use lacquer thinner in base. They also do some low end cheap work. To each his own. I don't remember what the last 5 gallon pail cost. I do recall in the past having a choice between virgin and recycled thinner and I would get the virgin. I refer to it as weasel piss. Like most I use it to clean the guns but use SPI reducer for the last rinse. What I save in thinner by using disposable cups is more than offset by the cost of the cups and lids! But it is easier.
 
Yes I remember R-M Pnt 90 as well as Ditzler 16 lacquer thinner. My paint jobber sells a 5 gal clean up thinner with there name on it priviate brand from a co who claims its top quailty like $ 65,00 it's ok . I use all my urathane reducer from SPI. Yes lacquer will work in most base coats BUT why take the chance and I for one will not take that gamble.
 
Pnt90 and dtl105 if you find a gallon, if! last I hear, about $150 a gallon.

Add a couple of things.

We have two retro shops that only use lacquer and never have used base for about 8 to 10 years as customers.
The one was complaining when he first came aboard about the cost of lacquer thinner and hard to get.
And I said to use 885 as he is in Florida and upgrade.
He did being very leary and saw the difference, and he then referred the other lacquer shop to me.
Over the years, I've suggested this, id guess, 50 or more times.

Also, I clean my guns with 860 as I use less than half the mount vs. lacquer thinner fake stuff.
 
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i use the keystone gun wash thinner. just ordered 2 pails a few days ago. my cost was about $75 per pail. i only use it to clean guns and wipe down gelcoat to remove mold release before sanding. stuff is pretty consistent in quality and good for what it is. its funny, laq thinner used to be considered by me to be the "cheap stuff" but now i can get acetone way cheaper so alot of times i am using that to clean with. for base.....always urethane reducer. even with that i stick with the spi stuff. wanda reducer for instance in wanda base sux. its like a totally different paint with spi reducer in it.
 
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