No Rattle in Your Rattle Can?
Elisha AlbretsenDescription
Almost every aerosol can of finish rattles when you shake it. The key word is almost. You’ll find that some cans of finish don’t rattle. What’s the deal with that? Thankfully, Elisha Albretsen was in the shop and provided the answer.
Gloss, semi-gloss, or satin?
I use aerosol cans of lacquer in my shop all the time. Even though I own a great HVLP sprayer, it’s sometimes more convenient, especially on small projects, to just grab an aerosol can. I’ve found that my gloss lacquer doesn’t rattle when I shake the can, but my semi-gloss and satin do. Elisha’s explanation about mattifier (yes, that’s a real word) makes sense. Bottom line—clear finish is made as a gloss, and some amount of mattifier is added to knock the gloss down to semi-gloss or satin. Shaking the can, rattling the mixing ball, gets the mattifier mixed into the finish.
What about cans you stir?
The same idea applies to conventional cans of finish that you pry open. You need to stir your semi-gloss to make it semi-gloss. Elisha has a story about what happens if you don’t stir enough.
Read the directions!
Make sure you read the label on the stuff you’re using. You can never go wrong with that. If it says shake the can for two minutes, shake the can for two minutes. If it says stir, don’t shake, then stir, don’t shake.
Finishing can be tough
Finishing your projects can be challenging. There’s no easier way to ruin a project you’ve invested a lot of time in than having the finish process go wrong. Let WWGOA give you a hand. Check out our finishing advice.
So, I've got a question. You may have had this question, and I'm hoping you can help me with this. When I use a rattle can of lacquer, what I've noticed is not everything's got a rattle. This is semi gloss. This is gloss, nobody home. So why is it, one, do I still have to shake this? I guess I could read the directions. Two, why does this not have the rattly thing that this one has? So yes, you do wanna shake it still, even if it doesn't have the ball in there, the little ball bearing that stirs it together. But the reason why the gloss doesn't have the ball bearings included is because lacquer, like a lot of clear coats, is gloss when it's made. And so, all lacquer is gloss. It comes gloss. To make it in different sheens, like semi or satin, they have to add a mattifier. You're making that word up. Nope, mattifier, makes things matte. It makes them madder? It makes them matte, with a T. Okay. Matter Takes the gloss out. Takes the gloss out. Right. Is it a Madder Hatter? I'm sorry, I'll stop. Okay, anyway But those mattifiers like to sink to the bottom, and so it's extra important if you're using a satin or a semi gloss that you make sure you shake it to get all those mattifiers mixed in so you can get the true sheen that you want. So, I'm sorry, but I'm today years old when I'm learning that. This is just weird. So, the chemical composition of all of 'em is identical up to the point where it goes in the can and then they choose to add some amount. So if it's, whatever, satin versus semi-gloss, there's more of your made up word in there. Yep, mattifier. There's more mattifier to dull it down even more. Right, and that's why it's extra important to always stir, even if you're using a quart can of clear, same thing happens, the mattifiers sink to the bottom. So you wanna make sure that you're stirring gently to get them incorporated. So is that when you stir and you can see you're pulling stuff up off the bottom, Right. that's what that is. Yep. Wow. So then, riddle me this, if I had a can, not a rattle can, and I didn't stir it, would I be applying gloss? Mostly. You know what I mean? Would the product work if I didn't stir it? I've actually had that happen where I didn't stir it properly, and as I started, it was super glossy, and then towards the end of the tabletop, it got less glossy because I was getting down to the bottom. Wow. Yeah. That is very good information. Thank you for rattling my can a little.
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