Wood Finishes and Finishing Jargon

4:52 pm Crafts, Glossaries
Adhesion: the property causing one material to stick to another
Barrier Coat: a coat applied which separates the substrate from contact with the topcoats
Bleeding: when a dye or color absorbs through to the top layer; this is due to a common solvency of the topcoat and the dye
Bloom: a bluish haze of a film usually caused by insufficient drying time of the oil stain before top-coating
Blushing: a white, milky cast in a film which is caused by trapping moisture into the film; blushing can be prevented and eliminated by slowing down the drying of the coating by adding a blush retarder
Blush Retarder: a reducer with slower drying properties
Body: the thickness of viscosity of the coating while in liquid form
Bond: the adhesion of or ability of two items to stick to one another
Bridge: when a finish forms a layer over a crack or void
Coat: the act of applying a coating to a surface
Coating: any material applied to a surface leaving a protective layer on that surface
Cold Checking: the cracking of a finish due to exposure to cold temperatures
Crawling: when a coating applied tends to flow away from areas leaving them uncoated; this is usually caused by grease or oil contamination of the surface to be coated
De-Laminate: the separation of layers due to lack of adhesion
Distressing: fly speck spotting (and/or other age marks like hammering) in the finished surface or on the substrate
Dye: a coloring material that dissolves in a system very transparent and not as color fast as a pigment
Dry Hard: the elapsed time at which a coating has reached its optimum hardness
Fading: the loss of color due to exposure to sunlight
Fast to Light: a color which is not significantly affected by exposure to sunlight
Finish: general term referring to the final protective coat done to add life to the piece painted that can be applied by brush or spray
Fish Eye: pock marks or craters that show up on finished surface when silicone is present
Flash point: the temperature at which a material will ignite when exposed to a source of ignition
Flat or Matte: a dull finish with little light reflection; non-glossy
Flood: the act of very heavily applying a coating to the substrate
Flow: the smoothing and leveling out of a coating
Glaze: an oil based pigment which is applied between lacquer coats to accent or give a graining effect
Gloss: the shininess or reflectability of a surface
Holiday: an uncoated area of a coated surface usually missed unintentionally
Incompatible: used in reference to coatings and/or stains that are not capable of being mixed with one another
Leveling: the act of applying a coat which will smooth out a previously rough coat
Opaque/Opacity: the degree of hiding of a pigmented coating. The opposite of transparent.
Orange Peel: a rough surface of a film similar in appearance to the skin of an orange
Pigment: a finely ground, insoluble powder which contributes color to a coating - usually very color fast
Pinholeing: the appearance of numerous small holes in a film, usually caused by bubbles due to heat drying of the coating
Primer: a coating which is first applied to a bare surface to make it smooth and help paint adhere to the surface
Reducer: to add solvent in order to thin a material to a workable thickness (viscosity)
Sanding Sealer: a lacquer formulated to give better filling and sandability than the topcoat lacquer
Substrate: the surface or material to be coated
Transparent: clear enough to see through
Translucent: allows light to pass through but not clear enough to see through
Viscosity: the thickness of a coating material in its liquid form
Volatile: the solvent portion of a coating
Washcoat: very thin coat of shellac or sealer
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