General Finishes Enduro Water Based Clear Poly, 1 Quart, Satin

This is my first time attempting to spray finish from anything other than rattle cans. I bought an Earlex 5700 hvlp sprayer to finish the kitchen cabinets I built and both the sprayer and the poly have performed amazingly. So far I’ve sprayed over six gallons in the last year. It sprays well, lays down flat, gives a nice satin finish that has so far been resilient to scrapes and scratches. And the best thing it dries super quick… I have been doing four coats on everything as these are every day use cabinets and I want them to hold up. I can do all four coats in a single day easily. I went to water base so I could spray in my garage without the risk of an appliance igniting a flammable vapor cloud but it also makes gun cleanup between coats and afterwards a cinch. I just drain the gun, clean out the cup, spray until I’m just getting water and set it aside until I’m ready for the next coat. I only do a full tear down at the end of the day. Couple things to note… it is thinner than paint so you need a smaller nozzle, works well with 1mm nozzle in my gun. Second as it is water based it does not impart the immediate warm glow that you get from oil based coatings. As I’m doing cherry they are aging in nicely and will gain that deep look eventually anyway so it isn’t a primary concern. For other woods if this is an issue you may want to look into putting some sort of base coat on first. Anyway very happy with this and will continue to buy.

I use a Fuji HVLP sprayer and have tried lots of water-based finishes. Even though this is pretty pricey, I keep coming back to it because it's the best performer. Fast drying, nice flow out, excellent durability. I usually put on three coats in 1 day, with two hours dry time between the coats. I always sand between coats, but don't imagine that it will be easy to sand off a lot of the finish, it's really hard. If you are careful with the spray, the sanding is easy and quick. Don't try to brush it, that will be just a mess. Don't forget to stir the non-gloss finishes - the flattener really sticks to the bottom of the can and you have to work to get it back in solution before you spray or the luster will be not what you want.

I used Target Coatings for quite a while but their shipping costs are high. The material cost is comparable so with free shipping I thought I would give the Enduro a try. I used satin and spayed a newly built cherry vanity using a Fuji Mini-Mite 3 HVLP rig with a 1.3 mm tip. I reduced it with 10% water. It atomized well, laid down a little orange peeled but flattened to a smooth finish when it dried. Probably better to shoot it right out of the can as it tended to run on vertical surfaces it I wasn't careful with the film thickness. Overall very forgiving, which is a good thing since the gun was new (to me) so it took a little time to dial it in. The finish is pretty similar to the Target urethane, as little bit of a "plastic" look that all waterbornes have and more of a sheen than conversion varnish, but still perfectly acceptable. It's not as easy to brush as the Target, which General finishes doesn't recommend anyway. But, still doable if you apply thin coats with a quality foam brush (jen/RedTree). For larger areas, roll on a medium coat with a small short nap roller and tip it off with a foam brush. One or two roller widths at a time overlapping the adjacent coat. I did some doors this way and they almost looked sprayed. It dries fast so work fast, or maybe try some retarder. I've never used it so I can't comment on how well it works.

I know professional by any means, but I’ve put down lots of finishes. I’ve done them by hand with the high-performance general finishes and that was awesome and then had a large surface to cover. I haven’t done much finish spraying, but with a Wagner finish sprayer set to Six this went on like silk. It’s a great company with great products you take a few minutes to watch the videos on their website, you can get pretty amazing results even if you’re no pro.

I’ve been using similar general finishes for quite awhile. It’s durable but needs to be sprayed.

Sprayed easily with the recommended fine finish tip in my airless paint sprayer. Finish turned out clear and very durable with virtually no runs. I did about 440 sq ft of oak wainscoting and used 2 1/3 gallons on three coats.

Best topcoat I’ve tried so far! Easy to spray and easy clean up!

Sprays great in my 5 stage HVLP. I have been told over and over that it isn't for brushing or rolling. The High Performance Clear which costs the same is made for spraying, brushing or rolling. It is also less darkening. These can change the look a bit but only the Enduro product seems to suffer from a possible dark can, I got one which was unusable, but only one. The Enduro Clear Poly is not the same as the regualar Enduro product which is defintely amber, that one is brushable but hard to spray in my opinion with an HVLP. If you are doing cabinets, do not caulk the doors and use these products, the Enduro Clear is more water resistant but it is like a bulldog and won't let go as the doors expand or contract and if they are caulked it will stretch out like a plastic bag over them. Just don't caulk cabinet doors. Both can be lightened a bit by adding some white tint from the paint store--preferably the old tints. You can safely add General Finishes water based stains and to some degree their milk paints. You can also reduce darkening by spraying a barrier coat of Minwax PolyCrylic or BM Staysclear.