Working with Water-based Finish

by John Kitakis

Originally published in American Lutherie #68, 2001 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013



The protective and decorative coating of stringed instruments we call finish work seems to be a never-ending struggle. The battle to produce a beautiful finish and the mental anguish it induces, along with trying to stay healthy while complying with environmental laws makes finish work a challenge, to say the least. Some of us live in areas with strict industrial emissions codes, whereas others live where no one cares. But even in these “country” settings, the fact remains that certain finishing materials are hazardous, both to our bodies and the environment. And since most luthiers love wood, trees, clean air, music, food, children — you know, all of the good things in life — then we should strive to build and finish in a conscientious manner.

In the 1970s I began building and restoring furniture, and then eventually stringed instruments. During those years I experimented with oils, varnish, French polishing shellacs, and synthetic lacquers, and still have pieces of furniture in my house twenty-five years later that have beautiful, hand-rubbed finishes. But to be productive (read “to make a profitable living”) I chose nitrocellulose lacquer. And through those years I must have sprayed enough lacquer and polyurethanes (toluene, benzene, xylene, and more) to probably kill all of the laboratory rats in the world. I’m probably alive thanks to my exhaust fan (who knows what happened to the neighbors?), but each night I would have headaches and a crusty irritation in my nose and lungs, along with having to clear my throat every few seconds. My wife could actually smell the fumes exuding from me as we slept. So those who use these nasty chemicals — with or without the benefit of fans and masks — besides dying young, become grumpy, irritable, and perhaps even unwilling sponsors of the drug companies.