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Anyone using Emerald urethane

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114K views 17 replies 13 participants last post by  richchevrette5  
#1 ·
Going to be starting a cabinet repaint, older 70's cabinets that are previously painted a dark charcoal-ish black color going to a lighter earth tone (interesting aqua). I asked my SW rep for his recommendations on top coat and he suggested Emerald Urethane trim enamel. He also recommended pro block oil or extreme bond for priming, tinted to help hide the old color.

While I am going to ditch the Pro block for some BIN as my adhesion coat and hopefully some hide as well, I was going to try and spray the Emerald urethane with a FFLP tip. I'm using a titan 440i. I will sand, degloss, sand, and clean for prep like painting over stain cabinets. Spray the doors in the garage, brush/roll boxes in place, and the doors will have at least 3 days to cure before re installing.

Is this stuff going to hold up, or should I use another product. I have never used the FFLP tips before, is there a learning curve or is just as simple as turning the pressure down from my normal 311 tip setting. I'm not a guy who sprays much, so I've never thinned or used different filters when spraying trim or doors. I've read post on here where people use pro industrial or other SW lines on cabinets, but when I ask my local SW guys, they always suggest Pro classic.

Thanks for your time.
 
#3 ·
Thanks, Im trying to stay with SW. Partially because of ease and discount. Partially because I don't know where a Ben Moore store is. Kind of have choice of box stores and SW's here. There are a few PPG's, but the limited experience I have had with there paints I wasn't impressed enough to abandon the flawed Sherwin chit.
 
#4 · (Edited by Moderator)
I've used it on several jobs. No call backs.

But... I'm not a fan of it. I don't feel any latex paint dries hard enough. So I've opted to utilize other stuff that Sherwin has access to through companies they've acquired and own.

But for your job it will work out just fine. Just give it about 2 days to setup before you attempt to put the cabinets back in and in use. The first day or so the coating is still on the soft side. Touchable and moveable, but will get harder as it cures out.

I also tell the customers they can't wash or clean it aggressively for a minimum of 7 - 10 days. I've had 1 customer try to clean it 5 minutes after we installed it. One of the paranoid types, smudged it and we had to redo that door. But... we sprayed it the night before and installed mid morning the next day. So... it takes time. :)
 
#5 · (Edited)
I have used Emerald Trim for some of my own cabinets and am reasonsbly happy with it. I would second that 2 day cure time prior to handling and installation. I would give it a minimum of two weeks before aggressive cleaning just to be safe. I have also used proclassic latex and find the Emerald to be a little tougher at least short term. I have Proclassic doing well at 10 yr plus. You mentioned Pro Industrial urethane alkyd waterborne. This is a similar product by Sherwin-Williams but you will have to double the blocking and cure times. I used the emerald trim thinned through my HVLP. I have not used it airless. It will brush and roll nicely as well. Good luck with your job and it will hold up fine.
 
#6 ·
Thanks for the replies. Woodcoyote, that customer sounds like the last few I've had. I have had the customer who was taking a camping lantern along my DW patch work and ceiling cutlines to inspect my work even though there was 2 skylights and mucho natural light from windows and sliding doors, to the "what if I help guy(s). Im in a run of real fun jobs right now.

Sounds like the latest and greatest is still limited by the fact that it, like most of the products I use, is latex and has it's limitations. I am always upfront with people and tell that the finish I can produce has it's flaws and is not factory grade. Maybe one day I will learn how to spray pigmented lacquers and other high speed things from a HVLP, but for now I think I will swear off cabinets and stick to walls, trim and ceilings.
 
#7 · (Edited by Moderator)
but for now I think I will swear off cabinets and stick to walls, trim and ceilings.
Don't write yourself off so fast.

Maybe experiment at your home or buy 1 or 2 cheap oak cabinets at home depot to experiment on. They come with doors/drawers and experiment on them there.

Cabinet refinishing can make decent money if your fast. I've had to increase the price for it in the past couple of jobs because the masking involved along with other expenses. A good 3 man crew should be able to turn a cabinet job over in about 3 days from start to final install/finish.

Otherwise you figure 2 -3 guys on average will take about 5 days, granted not all working 8 hours per se.

For us we view it as another revenue source. When we sometimes have had a down turn in work, we can pick up a cabinet job here or there to sustain us. And if we have a lot of work, we take the job and the additional profit. It's a win/win either way.
 
#8 ·
I just sprayed some 6 panel doors with it in black satin through hvlp, second coat coming today. Do not thin! Try your best to use 2 light coats, Instead of one heavy . Recoat time is 4 hours, much faster than 16 for advance. Coverage is pretty impressive,but dont get greedy and try and get by with 1 thick coat( you’ll regret it). Sheens are pretty dull compared to most other paints by comparison. Good luck.
 
#13 · (Edited by Moderator)
Going to be starting a cabinet repaint, older 70's cabinets that are previously painted a dark charcoal-ish black color going to a lighter earth tone (interesting aqua). I asked my SW rep for his recommendations on top coat and he suggested Emerald Urethane trim enamel. He also recommended pro block oil or extreme bond for priming, tinted to help hide the old color.

While I am going to ditch the Pro block for some BIN as my adhesion coat and hopefully some hide as well, I was going to try and spray the Emerald urethane with a FFLP tip. I'm using a titan 440i. I will sand, degloss, sand, and clean for prep like painting over stain cabinets. Spray the doors in the garage, brush/roll boxes in place, and the doors will have at least 3 days to cure before re installing.

Is this stuff going to hold up, or should I use another product. I have never used the FFLP tips before, is there a learning curve or is just as simple as turning the pressure down from my normal 311 tip setting. I'm not a guy who sprays much, so I've never thinned or used different filters when spraying trim or doors. I've read post on here where people use pro industrial or other SW lines on cabinets, but when I ask my local SW guys, they always suggest Pro classic.

Thanks for your time.
I have been asked to paint a kitchen rehab there are couple upgrades to original bases and all brand new doors. The original kitchen had oak bases the new doors are maple and mdf. The primer used sw extreme bonding primer resulting in good adhesion but left with color bleeding on bases.

I switched to the sw extreme blocking primer took care of the color bleeding stay with this product to prime the doors. So now on to the finish using sw emerald urethane semi gloss spent some time collecting information on preffered application methods. First did test patchs of sw hybrid proclassic and the emerald urethane after couple day did finger nail test both preformed well but chose the urethane. I tried a variations of pressure guns amd tips decided on using graco g40 210 fflp a little too narrow 312fflp better fan but too much material ultimately swap out the gaurd on g40 for reversible titan air over airless gaurd tried titan synergy sc+6 210 this is the best so far about 3inch fan good consistency I tried all these tips starting at 1000 psi the material seems to be best at about 2000psi pump pressure the air best set just above 30 psi. I am going to try the 308 tip next.

I have also tried single coat as well as cross coating ultimately it comes down to material the either way works. The trick part is thickness a little to thin looks orange peel if just a little too much it gets tiny air bubbles seems to be gas off as it happens later not right away and tried with and without the air option. This seems to very finicky to get the factory finish would appear to be 4mls without my mill guage is about 1/2 as thick as a regular coat about the thickness of a hair. If the coating is applied thin like this drys nice and hard seems like well be very durable. I would say it has been alot of work so far been painting 30ish years chairing to say the least. I will do another update as it nearly complete.
 
#16 · (Edited)
I’ve used it a couple of times and I have not been happy with the finish. I’m pretty particular with prep as I sand, vacuum, and tack cloth before applying, but the finish feels like cheap wall paint. It’s not slick like I would have expected. I even contacted my rep about it, and he said it’s something their techs are looking in to. He’s had other complaints about the issue. The satin is very dull, and SG is a little better. I thought it brushed out well. I’ll stick with Cabinet Coat for now.
Going to be starting a cabinet repaint, older 70's cabinets that are previously painted a dark charcoal-ish black color going to a lighter earth tone (interesting aqua). I asked my SW rep for his recommendations on top coat and he suggested Emerald Urethane trim enamel. He also recommended pro block oil or extreme bond for priming, tinted to help hide the old color.

While I am going to ditch the Pro block for some BIN as my adhesion coat and hopefully some hide as well, I was going to try and spray the Emerald urethane with a FFLP tip. I'm using a titan 440i. I will sand, degloss, sand, and clean for prep like painting over stain cabinets. Spray the doors in the garage, brush/roll boxes in place, and the doors will have at least 3 days to cure before re installing.

Is this stuff going to hold up, or should I use another product. I have never used the FFLP tips before, is there a learning curve or is just as simple as turning the pressure down from my normal 311 tip setting. I'm not a guy who sprays much, so I've never thinned or used different filters when spraying trim or doors. I've read post on here where people use pro industrial or other SW lines on cabinets, but when I ask my local SW guys, they always suggest Pro classic.

Thanks for your time.
 
#18 · (Edited by Moderator)
I recently sanded, primed and painted an old family oak double pedestal dining table with 8 chairs. Found myself at Sherwin Williams and I was told Emerald is the best to use. Hard, durable, long lasting and harder than paint with polyurethane on it. On the 8 chairs, sanded, primed and painted with SW superpaint which I like. I then covered it with the MinWax (owned by SW) polycrylic. In short, I asked and followed to the DETAIL all SW technical instructions on primer, painting and poly.

After proper curing, the chairs are easily scuffed right thru the polycrylic, paint, primer and down to the wood! The table, with the emerald scuffs easily. Coffee cups take the paint right off even down to the primer! I waited 4 weeks for the emerald to cure, per instruction, which brought us to Thanksgiving Day. After the long weekend of people eating at the table, scuffs, scraps, permanent marks are all over the table. It was awful! I have worked my tail off for 2 months finishing to fine detail this set and am GREATLY disappointed with Sherwin Williams Emerald paint and minwax polycrylic. I was told this was the best and could be used on this table and that is not true! This product is no better than any other product I may have used. JUNK!

I am now in the process of resanding yet again and looking for another product. This is not a good product for durability. It has NONE! Just in case you are wondering, I am not new at this. I have been painting and refinishing furniture for decades and I am extremely disappointed with Sherwin Williams Emerald paint and Minwax polycrylic!