Most homeowners and consumers that choose to purchase wood furniture not only love it for its distinguished beautiful look, but for the fact that a simple process known as wood refinishing can make an old piece look like the day it was first brought home from the store.
Most homeowners tackle the procedure of refinishing their wood furniture on their own. A very long and tedious procedure, refinishing wood is simple and can be done by just about any homeowner. But just as with anything that takes time to finish, there is always a way to do is faster.
Dean Camenares is the owner of East End Wood Strippers in Holbrook, NY, a family-owned business since 1959. He is an expert woodwork restoration specialist who has more than 20 years experience. Camenares said that spray finishing is a faster way for homeowners and consumers to finish their wood refinishing projects.
"Spray finishing is using equipment that is designed to spray the finishing material onto the wood," Camenares said. "Rather than brushing it on or any other method of putting it on, you are spraying it on. You can get a better finish and certainly it's easier to spray on a surface that has intricate detail."
Just as with anything that appears to be perfect, there is always a downside. Spray finishing has its advantages of being able to do a lot more in half the time. But one of the disadvantages that come with spray finishing includes emitting hazardous chemicals into the atmosphere.
"There are advantages and disadvantages in using spray equipment," Camenares said. "The disadvantage is you are sending it into the atmosphere a lot more. If you want to work in an environment where you are not going to breathe that stuff, this isn't it. You also waste a lot of material because this is going into the air, where if you brush something on it is just going on to the piece. You could work a lot faster if you are spraying too. Of course, this depends on the scope and scale of the job."
Camenares also suggests anyone who is against spray finishing not take their wood piece to a professional. While brushing the finish on provides more detail, most finishing shops have moved in the direction of spray finishing because of the amount of time they save.
"Any production finishing shop would use the spray technique; so would an assembly line," Camenares said. "There are people that still do things by hand, but that is on a very limited custom basis. Most professionals use spray equipment."
"There is a variety of spray equipment," he added. "A lot of finishing shops have big setups with compressors and filtration systems in a line and specialty spray guns. You can buy a simple Wagner spray gun that a homeowner can use."
