Superior finish on complex woods (i.e. African Padauk)
For more than thirty years I’ve chased the ever-receding horizon of perfection, marrying technology to the warmth of wood so each piece delivers both poetry and everyday utility. That pursuit has taken me through the full catalog of traditional oil varnishes, lacquers, and hybrid potions. Too often they have asked me to compromise: toxic chemicals, harsh solvents, fire-risk rags, fussy pot lives, unpredictable color shift, lingering odors, and sticker shock at the cash register. I wanted the depth and durability oils confer, minus the toxins and drama.
Enter Target Coatings. I first rolled the dice on their Emtech 1000 Universal Sanding Sealer. Laid down through an HVLP gun (DeVilbiss DV1 1.3 tip @ 20-25 PSI) it atomized like a dream, settling into the grain of black walnut and African padauk with a clarity that seemed to switch the “depth” **** to full. Once burnished back with 400-grit, the surface felt glass-flat yet alive with exceptional depth and character.
Top-coating with Emtech 9300 Polycarbonate Urethane Matte sealed the deal, literally and figuratively. A year later my daughter’s art-and-snack table still shrugs off watercolor, glue, and the occasional spaghetti night. There’s zero yellowing, no plastic sheen, and, best of all, cleanup is a quick rinse instead of a hazardous lacquer-thinner bath. The finish simply disappears and lets the wood sing.
When my wife commissioned a six-foot armoire that would dominate our sunroom, I reached for the new EMCAT+ Si427 Sealer & Isolator plus EMCAT+ 2K Conversion Varnish system. It sprayed buttery smooth, leveled out quickly, and stacked for re-coat without any trouble. Padauk’s notoriously fugitive crimson remains vivid and brilliant, not the dull greyish red other finishes encourage, while the film locks down at an exceptionally durable hardness.
Across species such as African padauk, black walnut, and hard maple, the Target Coatings lineup has proven color-true, block-resistant, and blissfully forgiving of shop humidity swings. No blush, no witness lines, and no surprise adhesion failures when I edge-sand through a coat. The math is compelling too: no oily rags spontaneously combusting, easy cleanup with water, and affordability with super fast shipping.
I began this experiment hoping merely to reduce toxins; I ended up upgrading both aesthetic and performance. Target Coatings has earned a permanent shelf in my finish cabinet (literally the entire shelf now), and, judging by my clients’ double-takes, a permanent place in their living rooms as well.
