Aqua Coat Clear Lacquer in Satin Finish - Premium Water-Based for Wood & Plastic - Self-Cross-Linking, Fast-Drying, Non-Yellowing, Eco-Friendly - Quart

Normally, I use oil based poly for most everything or a nitrocellulose based spray lacquer for musical instruments, but I wanted to try something different, and stumbled across the Aqua Coat clear lacquer. Having used their grain filler on a number of projects, I decided to give this a try on a maple/purlpeheart chess board and was very impressed. It went on very easily and dried quickly, allowing for multiple coats in a day. I found it applied and looked better than the water based acrylics, such as Minwax Polycrylic. Is it as nice as a nitro based lacquer? No, but it is darned good and much easier to apply, without all of the VOC odors. I think I'd stick to the nitro lacquer for a guitar, especially an acoustic.

I'm grateful for the folks at Aquacoat. I love the videos they have to introduce their product. I will give you some background. This video is for artists who are interested in using Aquacoat to cover their artwork. Aquacoat is a great product. I have tested a few marine varnishes for my artwork I bought the Satin. There is a low if any smell and it's dries satin with a touch of gloss. It's quick drying and a Quality product. I use gloves and a sponge to apply about 3 coats for coverage. I may do a video on my YouTube to show it dry. My picture is of it wet and just applied. I rated it 5 stars.

Very low odor, easy to put on and doesn't change the color of the wood!

Not to elaborate much, it is a great product. Dries nicely. Dries faster than other brands of waterborne finishes. Sands easily and is ready to sand at quicker intervals than other finishes I have tried. Take note, this is a "lacquer" finish, not a polyurethane finish. If you want a waterborne polyurethane. this company also sells a product called Aquathane. Great product! I now use this lacquer product for guitar finishes.

I have been using water-borne fihishes since the late 1980's. The Aquacoat products are the best that I've used. The lacquer is very easy to work with, levels out very well, and holds up to wear and tear very well.

Low, low odor. No thinning required. 3 coats with sanding in between coats. Powders nicely.during sanding. Lacquers levels out nicely.

The only benefit is low odor. 3 or more times the work to get somewhat close to traditional lacquer.

I am not a fan of lacquer by any means but this stuff is awesome - it's water based so easy to clean up and waaaaay less stinky! I like that it's watery because this giant bottle will last for a long time. It dries pretty quickly and it seems to cover very well.