Non-yellowing spray finish for intarsia?

[MetalEd]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a non-yellowing spray finish for intarsia? I prefer to spray coat a semi-gloss or gloss finish on completed intarsia and have noticed that some of the pieces I did years ago, the white woods are starting to yellow. I think I remember reading that the water based polyurathanes or 'Crylics don't yellow (or not as much), but then I have a problem with it being completed intasia. The water based products have a tendancy to raise the grain on a lot of softer woods, which would be next to impossible to sand between coats in all of the tight areas.
So is there a solution for a spray finish or do I need to start using a brush on or wipe on product and then assembling the intarsia? How about a sanding sealer? Is there a spray-on sanding sealer (non yellowing) that I could use before spraying a water based spray to help control the raising grain problem? Or even use a sanding sealer before assembling the intarsia (as long as yellow wood glue still works well.)
Thanks all!
Ed

[workin for wood]

yea...there is water base sanding sealers and brush on or spray on finishes. I just noticed the other day that varathane now has an acrylic spray too. I used the minwax acrylic and it worked out great, but you do need to keep your coats extra thin to avoid runs, meaning you have to apply more coats than usual to build a finish. If you have a professional spray gun, then you are really in business. You can catalise your acrylic and you can thicken it too. You can spray a thick coat and have it rock hard in 20 minutes ready for sanding and respraying. I have a cabinet maker friend that does that on all his cabinets and it's very slick...looks amazing and it's very durable as long as it doesn't make contact with alcoholic beverages...that's the achille's heal!

[Janette]

I usually use a gel varnish for all of my intarsia, but I came across a perdicament awhile back. When I did my 3 Lhasa Apsos, I used maple and figured maple. The maple stays white enough to suit me but the figured stuff turns a lovely golden color when finish is applied. I experimented with several water based finishes. One was the kind you buy at michaels and paint on. What I ended up doing was using the spray water based poly on just the figured maple pieces prior to gluing the whole thing together. This way I could sand lightly just on those pieces. Then I glued the project together and put my clear gel varnish over the entire project. This blended the finish so all pieces looked the same and the poly had sealed the figured maple so that the gel didn't actually sink in and turn it golden. Hope this helps!

[MacS]

Crystal Clear solvent based coatings

Its a common problem with water base coatings because they raise (lift) the grains in the wood.

Many, shops first use a solvent coating to to seal the wood, then apply the water base coatings, this eliminates the problem. There are water clear coatings that are solvent based like Acrylic, CAB coatings, and Conversion Varnish.

Many shops use clear Shellac for their first coating. It dries fast, and is clear in color.

[unixpro]

I've been using Deft for years and I haven't noticed any yellowing on any of my projects. After reading, I went and looked at some of my earliest work and it still looks fine to me. Lousy cutting technique , but the finish looks OK.

[MetalEd]

tried your suggestion

I took your suggestion and tried it out on bOth of my latest intarsia pieces. I used a water based spray, sanding sealer, then used a water based clear coat spray. I absolutely love it!!!! The wood is just as light as the unfinished pieces. No yellowing at all and the colors/grain look more like the original unfinished than a oil based laquer would have done!
It did raise the grain a bit and I had to sand the finished pieces with a 320 grit paper.. Not as hard as I thought it would be on a finished intarsia piece. On my second project I noticed the grain did not raise as much if I used extremely light coats (more coats).. I assume the sealer did not have a chance to soak into the wood as much with the lighter coats.
For Those that suggest I finish the wood bEfore glueing to the backer... most of my intarsia is that way... but I always have a problem with the pieces shifting as I glue/clamp them to the backer. I am very anal when it comes to close tollerances in intarsia.. no gaps at all (you can see in my puppy and horse I am about to post)... I go the extra mile to make no gaps/ tight fitting pieces... it makes me want to cry when the pieces shift on the backer board while glueing... so I tried assembling the pieces by edge glueing each one to the next, to assemeble the entire intarsia project... after it is assembled I then place it on a piece of plywood and trace it, cut it... then glue it to the backer-board... then use a clear finish... I am extremely happy with it! You can see from some pieces that the two different woods are so tight, except for the color changes in wood, you would think it was a solid piece of wood (chest and head on the puppy, and the white/brown legs on the horse!)
Well, I want to thank everyone for their suggestions! They all helped a lot!
Ed B.

Its a common problem with water base coatings because they raise (lift) the grains in the wood.

Many, shops first use a solvent coating to to seal the wood, then apply the water base coatings, this eliminates the problem. There are water clear coatings that are solvent based like Acrylic, CAB coatings, and Conversion Varnish.

Many shops use clear Shellac for their first coating. It dries fast, and is clear in color.

[MacS]

To Metal Ed and Unixpro

Good going Ed, your reply will be helpful to others who read this thread.
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Unixpro, I tried to check out "Deft" on the Internet, it says, that it is a nitrocellulose base coating. Then it states, that it is "crystal clear coating" and it will not yellow for a long time.

Nitrocellulose coatings will say, it is a clear coating, it will never says, it is either "water or crystal clear." That is the difference between the coatings, Krylon is another coating that is an acrylic, also states that it is a crystal clear coating that is non yellowing. There are many other companies that sell these products.

Deft, is probablly a hybrid CAB coating containing a nitrocellulose base. I know a lot of scroller that rave about this coating, I cannot do that, as I never use it so I have no personal comments.

https://www.macsimmons.com