Will Sampson continues his interview with Chris Reding, a finishing expert who talks about new innovations that bring powder coating technology to woodworking with the promise of safer, faster, environmentally friendly and more durable finishes.
This episode of the Woodworking Network Podcast was sponsored by the Executive Briefing Conference, being held September 8-10, 2021, at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, CO.
Woodworking Network is a home for professional woodworkers, presenting technology, supplies, education, inspiration, and community, from small business entrepreneurs to corporate managers at large automated plants.
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Intro music courtesy of Anthony Monson.
Finishing and opportunity
Selling custom woodwork provides an unending opportunity to innovate and develop new products. Sometimes ideas for innovation come from customers who request something unusual, and sometimes they come from new ways of doing things or even repurposing old ways into a new configuration.
In the case of finishing, there are always incremental improvements as finishing is constantly improved, but sometimes new finishing or new finishing techniques open the door to new products. One example is outdoor kitchens. I have no idea who the first person was who decided to turn their outdoor barbecue area into a full-blown outdoor kitchen with cabinets and appliances beyond the barbecue, but it took off. Now, cabinet shops and contractors are on the lookout for materials and finishes that will hold up to the outdoors in making a full-functioning outdoor kitchen. Things like polymer substrates, powder coating finishes, and even all-metal cabinets are seeing use and creating new products.
Finishing has always been about style, so when certain colors, kinds of finishing, or finishing processes become trendy, that changes demand and creates new opportunities. Currently, in interior cabinetry there is a continuing trend that favors paint over stains. That reverses a longstanding trend, but shops who ignore the trend do so at their peril. Some years ago, there was a huge fade for complex glazed finishes, often in ornate Mediterranean-style kitchens. A lot of shops with skilled finishers who could deliver good results in glazed finishes did a lot of business meeting those demands.
There is currently a niche market in furniture using polymer resin as both a finish and a feature in so-called river tables. These typically have a live-edge slab as the table top, and colored resin is poured into defects and often a central gap or crack to make it look like a river runs through the table top. The resin also fills other defects, allowing the use of wood that ordinarily would be rejected. Instead it becomes a valuable commodity.
I don’t know how long the river table fad will last, but it certainly is an opportunity right now. I wouldn’t recommend jumping on every fad or trend that comes your way, but it is important to keep your eyes and ears open to new product ideas. When a customer asks for something unusual or you see something that is out of the ordinary, don’t just think, “We could make that.” Take the next step and say to yourself, “I’ll bet we could sell those at a handsome profit.”
Before we get back to our interview with Chris Reding, let’s pause for a word from our sponsor.
Now let’s get back to Chris Reding, Global Director for Alternative Substrates for IFS Coatings
(13:06) Why specifically should a woodworking company consider powder coating?
I think there are a lot of good reasons that woodworkers should give powder coating a look. (talks about experience looking for cabinets to redo his old house) Start reading these reviews and boy they are ugly and there’s a lot of them and better than 90% of them are complaints about the finish. Those are things that powder figured out how to avoid a long long time ago. For the consumer it means a safer, tougher beautiful finish with options that other technologies can’t do in terms of esthetics. For the manufacturer, how about 0 VOCs? Zero hazardous materials at all. Better than 90% material utilization. A process time of 7 minutes. Getting it all done in one coat with a material that is stronger, safer and better than their incumbent technology.
(15:09) For somebody who’s an experienced finisher, what’s the learning curve?
Applying powder is considerably easier. I can spend a couple hours with just about anyone and have them produce a pretty decent looking powder coating whereas with a liquid finisher, this is a pretty deep skill set. You need one really smart person who understands the equipment and knows how to the setups and all that.
(16:30) More sustainable alternative?
There’s no solvents at all. No smell. 100% solids. (About 70% of liquid paint is solvent).
(17:42) Different look options?
Hammer tones, river finishes, speckles, (on metal) we can do these on wood as well. Dimples, multi-color finishes, the pallet is pretty much endless. IFS coatings has 70,000 different formulas. I’m particularly excited with hardwoods (shows chair leg in maple) tinted clear coat as alternative stain. Shows maple with cherry finish. Plywood with oak veneer. Anti-microbial properties. Super-durable outdoor powder for wood.
(21:26) What do shops need to know to get started?
Equipment investment is pretty conservative. We can start off somebody quite small. One section of oven and one gun and basically you’re ready to go into business. Systems designed to be modular so the system grows with you. Training—We become part of your organization until you’re up and running and running strong. Timeline – Far simpler and straightforward than the process for liquid coating.
(23:20) Finishers are few and far between these days.
It’s a tough job. There are folks out there who like painting, but most of us just hate it. They all do finishing and they all despise it.
(23:43) Yet if you ask them they say the finish is important.
(24:30) Finishing is the bottleneck for many operations, and we change that.
Gives example Europeans run out of wood to coat. Machines can’t keep up with production.
(25:03) The whole speed angle, and the environmental angle…
It’s a great advantage. When you are free of solvents, even waterborne has some nasty stuff in there. The coolest thing about powder for me and it makes it kind of a mission, is we’ve got the safest coating technology out there with the best environmental footprint and we deliver a better finish a whole lot faster.
(27:25) End.
That’s it for today. If you are looking for more of our podcasts, you can find all of them at WoodworkingNetwork.com/podcasts and in popular podcast channels. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode. Thanks again to today’s sponsor, the Executive Briefing Conference. If you have a comment or topic you’d like us to explore, contact me at will-dot-sampson @ woodworking network dot com. Thanks for listening.