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I put an epoxy resin on a table top and it looks awesome except for a few spots that bubbled or had dust fall on it. I would like to sand the top down smooth/level and put a thin layer of lacquer on top. I would like to use spray lacquer. Will this stick? Or should I use a different method. I am limited to about 2 days to work on this table before it needs to be used for the holidays.

Update (Seven years later): The good news is that the table is still in use today! However, I have had some issues with it, and I'm not sure if it's because of the combination of epoxy and lacquer or because I applied it incorrectly. The main issue I've had is when I clean it with a cleaning solution (mild antibacterial). It seems to create a white haze that sort of peels off when I wipe it. Kind of like when you peel off a sticker and you have to scrub to get that sticky stuff off after. Once it's wiped off and dry, you can't tell there was an issue. Again, this may be due to user error.

Programmer
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  • Epoxy paint on wood takes forever to dry. About 3 hours ago I sprayed a guitar with epoxy and I thought it would be dry enough to spray clear coat lacquer over it safely. I was dead wrong! The epoxy paint began to rise crack & bubble in places. Now I'm kinda afraid to shoot lacquer over enamel epoxy at all. I'm not sure if the epoxy paint was fully cured it would be alright? What a pain. I'll never use epoxy on wood again. Enamel paint is so much easier & it drys much quicker! –  Sep 24 '16 at 21:47
  • I recommend that you do a flood coat of the same epoxy resin after you sand with 220 grit or finer – Tim Jul 29 '18 at 07:03
  • Great to see an update after all this time, thanks very much! These are very rare here. – Graphus Dec 22 '22 at 13:09
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    Now about that white haze, if you check the ingredients of the cleaning solution I suspect you'll find there are one or more ingredients that are left behind after the bulk evaporates. I'd suggest trying water + bleach as an alternative and seeing if there's no residue.... and anyway a weak solution of water and bleach makes an extremely effective and v. cheap surface disinfectant, as widely publicized during the worst of Covid time :-) – Graphus Dec 22 '22 at 13:14

3 Answers3

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Lacquer can stick to epoxy. How secure the bond is depends on a few factors but if you provide a textured surface for a mechanical bond to form — as you do when you sand — that gives the best chance for a reliable result.

I should caution that people have had very mixed results trying to repair/restore the surface of epoxy with varnish and lacquer. At worst apparently the scratches remain clearly visible in the epoxy surface underneath the topcoat, they don't get 'wetted' by the topcoat as they would if you were applying over a layer of the same finish.

Normally this would mean I'd recommend you do a test or two but you don't have the time so I would either live with the blemishes for now, or just bite the bullet and go for it with the lacquer and hope for the best.

Graphus
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  • I do have a test piece that has an epoxy coat for this reason. I'm thinking that if I sand and spray lacquer on it tonight, I should be able to see the results by tomorrow, which is the last day that I can put lacquer on it before it needs to be used. – Programmer Nov 23 '15 at 20:04
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Just did this recently. Works great, but lightly sand epoxy at up to 320 before applying first coat of lacquer, and then use several thin additional coats on top of that. You won't need to sand between lacquer coats unless you have rough spots or dust, since a new coat of Lacquer melds with existing lacquer perfectly. This gave me a liquid top coat that looks lustrous and beautiful, just as I wanted.

Corey Preville
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Well, I agree that sanding to give the epoxy "tooth", for the laquer to adhere mechanically is right. The real test, however, is time.....-depending on what kind of laquer, this combo is prone to crazing after a while, especially if it is a catalyzed laquer, which shrinks with incredible force.

colin
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