In recent years few areas have been of such concern to furniture manufacturers as that of finishing – largely because of the introduction of the Environmental Protection Act.
Nothing has given such impetus to green manufacturing, with its implications for health and safety, in the furniture and woodworking industries. Moreover, the EPA’s impact is continuing to shape the kind of finishes that can be used both in the UK and throughout Europe.
For a start, it meant a virtual end to the heavy reliance on high solvent content finishes, for many years a versatile favourite among the majority of furniture manufacturers.
This should have been a lot less traumatic than it actually became. The gradualist approach of the new EPA regulations meant that furniture manufacturers were able to phase in new types of finishes, and particularly to make use of new compliant coatings. However, the problem for a sizeable number of furniture manufacturers was that they left the required changes to the last moment.
At the same time, coatings manufacturers have been swift to develop new varieties of finishes, thereby providing a greater choice for furniture manufacturers, easing production demands, and maintaining or enhancing the attractiveness of the wood and wood veneers used in today’s furniture.
Sonneborn & Rieck, a leading manufacturer not only of wood finishes but also plastics and metal coatings, was quick to seize the initiative. A genuine concern with environmental responsibility, expenditure on research and development that is more than double the industry average, and key involvement in other industries, helped to give the company a head start.
This is especially the case in water-based coatings, now an area of overriding interest for furniture manufacturers, both in the UK and Continental Europe. As their name indicates, such lacquers are fully acceptable in environmental, health and safety terms. They have also long ago shrugged off previous problems of slow curing times and poor resistance levels. There are still some drawbacks but they are being rapidly overcome. And they provide a finish for furniture that is comparable with the best solvent-based coatings.
Sonneborn & Rieck’s approach here – in a finishes sector where it has been active since the early 70s – is to produce an increasing range of innovative, proven, water-based coating systems that provide speedy curing and meet the high standards demanded by the furniture industry, in addition to the variations demanded by individual furniture manufacturers.
The speed of change here can be seen in the fact that, within a couple of years, the company has already established its second generation of water-based UV lacquers. It represents a major advance. Apart from fast cure and an ability to meet severe rating standards, including a resistance to chemical spills, these new UV finishes offer excep-tional clarity. The ‘milkiness’ often apparent when UV finishes are applied has been eradicated, even on deeply profiled panel products. Other features are high build application, and high slip properties, giving the finish a silky feel.
For furniture manufacturers, the association between technology and aesthetics is a compelling one. It indicates the speed at which modern finishes are progressing and, more particularly, the versatility of the water-based variety.
Sonneborn & Rieck’s faith in water-based furniture finishes is demonstrated by the company’s substantial and, as it turned out, timely investment in an extensive production plant. The result is a veritable cascade of water-based coating – topcoats, basecoats, stains, fillers and primers.
Furniture manufacturers are now able to obtain waterborne sealers, designed to be non-bleeding under waterborne lacquers, available in an extensive range of wood colours. Their composition ensures excellent light fastness. The binder content contributes to overall build.
New water-based, pigmented stains provide increased colour consistency as well as significantly greater stability than has previously been available. Water-borne electrostatic spraying lacquers are increasingly widely used because they have good sanding properties, are fast drying, and – most important of all – provide an excellent looking finish.
Then there are high build waterborne basecoats as well as waterborne wood fillers which can be matched to meet any customer requirement and are suitable for any timber, including oak, mahogany, walnut, teak, and other popular species.
Water, undoubtedly, is the flavour of the month. Only a few years ago water-based finishing products attracted the general criticism of being too slow in curing, difficult to handle, and able to provide only minimal resistance. The ugly duckling, however, has turned into a swan.
Increasingly, as further advances are achieved, water-based coatings are answering the finishing questions posed by furniture manufacturers.
It is a tribute to today’s coating technol-ogy, for instance, that a water-based wood grain filler has been introduced which is easy to use and has a negligible solvent content of less than 0.3%.
Applied by hand or sprayed, it is supplied in a thick paste form. Once the product is removed from its container, however, the viscosity level drops markedly, making it easy to apply and spread across the surface of either solid timber or veneer.
This new filler is available in a wide range of wood colours. It is especially suitable for reproduction furniture and for the further application of basecoat and lacquer.
Water-based technology has become a valued and integral part of furniture production. More than this, it has proved a highly adaptable technology, one that continues to develop and attract growing use among furniture companies.
