How to get a high gloss black finish (near piano black)

[Sprags]

I found through lots of trial and error with all kinds of products that finishing wood is best done with lacquer. As another poster stated, lacquer melts together into one homogenous coat. Once cured in about 1 to 3 weeks sanding and polishing it too a glass like finish is easier than with any other product. If I wanted something to have that Piano Black gloss finish I'd find black lacquer paint and expect to spray maybe 20 to 30 'coats' giving it maybe 1 to 2 hours between each one and then letting the park pice dry thoroughly.

Once dried use 800 grit and wet sand with a light touch....gradually going to a 1200 or 1500 grit. After that I'd hand rub using wood polish and microfiber towels.

The finish will be a mile deep if you are leaving it a wood tone. Any other material will still be a deep shine.

If you ate painting metal I'd take the piece to an auto body repair shop and see if they would paint it then polyurethane clear coat it. Let it dry then color sand it before polishing by hand. I say hand polishing because if you aren't experienced with a power polisher you'll end destroying the finish in seconds.

 

[Sus]

for sealing the mdf, I have read a lot that shellac is the best. Which one should I use? Shellacs | Interior Stains & Finishes | Paint | Décor | Home Depot Canada

Is there something better then shellac?

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This is a lot better but I'm not a pro. Yellow Elmers glue that says on the bottle" will sand". Thin it 50- 50 with water. I spray it on with an elcheapo HVLP gun. Don't buy the good glue,it's doesn't sand very well. Shellac , sanding sealer and all that gums up for me on MDF. I do use a small brush on edges first and after sanding again spray with 50 50.

It Takes a lot of sanding and skips are a problem since you can't see where you sprayed. I'm afraid of brush streaks so stick to spraying.

I don't think you will ever get a piano finish with oil base. Two part lacquer should be ok out doors, up wind and a respirator.

 

[Sprags]

can anyone answer this please?

in regards to taking this to a boat builder, I'm not really interested in that, this is a DIY forum 😛

Shellac is typically brushed on and then sanded for smoothing it out unless you are applying the shellac using a French Polishing technique which is a difficult or at least time consuming technique to master.

Spraying Nitrocellulose Laquer and then sanding and polishing is a much easier process and technique to learn. Attached is a sample of something I used Laquer as a finishing media. It's glass smooth and as glossy as you can get.

 

[blistard]

The traditional way of aplying shellac (french polishing) is not extremely difficult. It just takes time, patience, time and then some more time and elbowgrease. The result is imho much better then any other paint-method.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNlt_y1rttQ&list=PLB3E888B8AE55BBB7
My grandfather renovated grandpiano's (in the livingroom b.t.w.) and I've seen this done soo many time and with such nice results I couldn't advice any other method (so, I might be just a little biased 🙂 (and my brain probably melted from al the ethyleen and bone-glue)

 

[Sprags]

Using rattlecans of nitrocelluous laquer gets you a finish almost as nice as a French Polish without all the headaches. The nice thing about nitrocellous laquer is it becomes one homogenous coating rather than layers like just about everything else. That way if it chips or you need to fix a small spot you can just apply it in the one spot then sand and buff it until the damage disappears.