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Hey Everyone,

I am curious to try nitro someday, but have heard that it can dangerous. Can someone tell me how much of what I have read is true?

Like any product, I think wearing a respirator, eye protection, etc. is a necessity. But, will nitro really ignite easily, or blow up? Or are those extreme cases where someone is using it in an enclosed room, and smoking a cigarette?

I don't know, so I thought I would ask.

Thank you!

Jeff

Gee, I'm scared, but I use it. Actually, production environments are probably much more dangerous, where maybe two or three folks are all spraying at the same time in the same booth. It's the concentration of fumes that's really dangerous.

Properly exhausted and care taken to eliminate sparks of any kind, make it as safe as it can be. You eventually need an explosion proof fan, and take care using any heat source, light bulbs that could break and arc, that sort of thing.

All I can say, nitrocellulose is an absolutely fine finish for an acoustic guitar. The gold standard since the thirtys. Spray some over an open flame and see what happens...... just kidding.Dickey38364.9945486111

Ok Bruce, I sprayed some over an open flame and........will my eyebrows grow back?! Just kidding.

Did you build a spray booth? If that is what it takes, not sure if I will be able to try it. What about the brush on kind of nitro?

Jeff

I switched to KTM-9 because I can't afford a full blown space suit to spray in, I don't have room yet to build a spray boot (and I can't find any to rent) so I spray in the shop with a little booth. Since is a waterborne finish it's much less hazardous (just don't drink it, or inhale clouds of it)....

I'm not as worried about explosions as I am about damaging my body or developing some wierd mental problem (may be too late for that). It's been raining so much here that I haven't dared spray and I have 3 guitars all ready to be sprayed

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

I've worked in cabinet shops where they have sprayed nitro-cellulose products without a spray booth or exhaust fan.( The good old days.) We had an overhead heater that would kick on and off, as well as a hot water tank. The key was that there was a large area for the fumes to dissipate. I have sprayed NC in my garage (attached). the biggest problem was that my house smelled like fresh lacquer for quite awhile. Kinda like painting you know what I mean. (After spraying I opened the overhead door for the nitro to dissipate). I have no open flames in my garage. You can spray nitro-cellulose outside at almost anytime of the year. If you do in extreme cold like where I the live it can cloud and could even fish eye or peel. That is why I like the water borne lacquers- very little smell and no volatile solvents. There is a knock down spray booth article in the Jigs and Tools section of the forum. "The fumes are what get you into trouble as they have petroleum based solvents." A little precaution goes a long way. Safety first. You can brush lacquer sanding sealer, very well.
The biggest problem with brushing lacquer is the set up time and the brush strokes. If you can purchase a lacquer type flow brush (Lee Valley tools had one or two ,at one time) You could eliminate some of the brush strokes. If not then I guess you would have to either scrape lacquer with no hook on your cabinet scraper or sand very lightly until you get the brush marks out.
NOT EASY TASK. Practice makes perfect. Any how that is my experience in brushing. You still get the fumes with brushing lacquer!! Have a great day.

KABOOM !

Don W38365.7776273148

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I have a place for a professional spray booth, but in keeping with my debt-free plan, later. What I have right now is a Knock Up Spray booth. I put a four foot dual bulb flourescent light on the ceiling near a window in my garage.

In the window when I'm spraying, you'll find a twenty dollar box fan I've had for thirty years. The light switch for the overhead light, a multistrip extension, into which both the light and fan are plugged.

Mario helped me figure out why my wrists were hurting, so I added some supports to hold the guitar in place. The booth, oh it's a Sony Big Screen TV box, or several of them I picked up at a home entertainment place, gratis. Those boxes are huge. So, I ran cardboard over the walls to catch the overspray, then came out 30 inches from the wall with two by four frame and guitar supports, covered with Sony cardboard. The booth has a bottom in it too, at fan bottom height.

I have two guns and run a drier on my hose, coming from my compressor. The guns, a portercable psh2, and the one I mainly use a Campbell Hausfeld detail gun, small cup, but it blows a nice stream of lacquer.

I do have a garage gas central furnace, which I shut down entirely including the pilot. I try to be careful, the fan does it's work, I crack the garage door about four inches. This works so well, I have zip fumes in the house which is attached. Immediate exhausting of the nitro has solved much of the danger problem.

I have a small 6` by 6` booth, I have an explosion proof fan that I bought through Northern tool co. which is made for grain silos. I also hooked up a dimmer switch which helps me control the speed of the fan. I use it at medium speed when Im spraying but I slow it way down during the cure. No lights in my booth, I rely on good old sun light that comes in through the window.(with that said, I perfer cloudy days when the light is flatter) Nitro is dangerous, but if your carefull it is the best.