Thanks Dick, I just picked up the chair and you're oviously right, buffing was not the answer. Wherever he buffed, there are cloudy streaks. I'm going to try to find another painter tomorrow and suggest the sanding and recoat, i think that is very sound advice. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

Jake

Thanks Nelson, I'm no painter at all, but I think i might try to learn after this. I think your's and Dicks advice is very sound and I will suggest that to the new painter tomorrow.

For the first and second time(within 10 days of each other) in the eight years i've been in business I have had two companies not only screw up, but then immediately give me the project(unfinished or screwed up) and say we can't help you any further. There have been times(now is one of them) where I just wanted to give a project back and say "Sorry i didn't give you what i promised, but there's nothing more I can(substitute 'want' here) do. Here's your stuff back. See ya!", but my pride always prevented me from following through. By the end of tomorrow night I will have put in 50-60 hours on a 6 hour project, and may not get paid for it, just so I can try to salvage my reputation. I know that you all do the same thing and probably have fought similar issues, but sometimes i wonder if any of the other tradesmen and women in Lincoln, NE feel the same way. Today, I'd have to say NO! That's probably not true, but I feel like screaming right now, so there you go. Thank God there's a site like this where I can turn to.

Jake

Jake,

I have much the same experience that you do with shoddy so-called "craftsmen." I detest them and all their ilk.

Lightly scuff snad the bumps down to level, clean with a mild solvent like mineral spirits or ethanol and wipe down with a store-bought tack cloth and then re-shoot with the Permalac and you should be okay. I'd test the solvent wipe on the underside of a piece someplace where it won't show in case it pulls the finish any, of course. On the re-shoot, you probably should lightly fog on the first coat or two to make sure there is no intercoat sand-scratch swelling happening before you shoot the flood coats.

Best of luck with it. This is exactly why I do my own finishing and too many other things that really should be subbed out to a competent subcontractor; I can't find the mythical competent subcontractor.

Jake, I would like to take this as an opertunity to comment on powder coating in general(if I may be alowed). A freind owned a large facility that powder coated their own products, and those of others. Another freind was the production manager. My personal opinion is that powder coating is a nice finnish for items which will alway be inside, where they would not be subject to rust, even if unpainted. These gentlemen tried every thing from giant steel shot wheelabraders to humidity controll, to same day cleaning and powder coating, but the finnish was really only viable for their own product, gym equipment used indoors. Powder coating is an expensive joke for outdoor use. For less than twenty percent of the cost of powder coating, I have my work hot-dipped in zinc, sprayed with epoxy primer, and automotive top coat. The rust stains visible on the chair prove my case in my opinion. John Christiansen

I used to have work powder-coated until an expensive pair of antique lanterns literally fell apart in the coater's oven because the solder melted. It cost me $2500 to make my client happy. I went to plating after that and nothing ever fell apart either.

Nic East, Jim Thorpe, PA USA
Creativity begins with a novel thought.