Anyone Use an Airbrush?

[badbert]

They have alot of airbrush stuff! I bought that 3 gallon pancake compressor. It is basically a tire inflator with a 3 gallon tank. But it works fine for everything I need it to!

[Ton80]

This is a pretty novice question but I'm assuming you can spray varnish through certain airbrushes. Since there is no aerosol propellent involved ( like minwax spray-on poly ) is it safe to spray on a finish in a basement where there is a gas boiler or is there too much of a vapor buildup since the airbrush is vaporizing the varnish?

[Bill Pratt]

I almost never use oil based finishes. I prefer water-white Clear), water based varnishs in mat or semi gloss.

I do not use high gloss because I do not have the necessart spray booth to keep trash out of it. Speraying water based varnish indoors is not an issue. Cleaning the air brush is a big issue. I run water through the sprayer-brush when I'm done. As a last step I run some denatured alcahol. Back in the old days I would run a little acetone. Under no circumstances should you spray acetone indoors.

As to the airbrush- I've never had any success shooting varnish with the normal air-brush. I use the Paasche Model 62 for that. Varnishes by nature have a high level of solids in them. If you thin them enough to go through a fine tipped brush, it either sinks into the wood or runs easily. For a high quality finish you want the varnish to "float" on the wood, not raise the grain.