Ok Guys need help here,I have been doing alot of signs for football teams and well,when I apply my clearcoat to it the white turns Yellow,and I have tried MiniWax clear ans also Vespar clear and both Yellow the white,is there something I am doing WRONG or what,have tried differant types of White Paint and it still yellow,NEED HELP SINKING HERE lol

paint after the clear coat...

Have you tried General Finishes water based?

 

26 minutes ago, Cliff said:

Have you tried General Finishes water based?

 

That should do it! That stuff never yellows, from what I hear, never used it.

1 hour ago, Cliff said:

Have you tried General Finishes water based?

 

where do I find it at ?

17 minutes ago, Ron said:

where do I find it at ?

Woodcraft...

I'm guessing the clear finishes you've tried so far are all oil based (?). Those are never clear, the oil gives them the amber cast you see that shows up so well on white. Most waterborne finishes will dry water clear, and that sounds like what you want. You need to be careful though, some of them have a dye added to mimic the color of the oil based finishes, and they may well look give you the yellow you don't want. GF's HP is one that has no color additives, and it has a UV stabilizer if those signs will be outside. Another alternative is exterior paint. You get the deep tin base and tell them not to tint it. It looks milky in the can but dries water clear and still has the exterior protective qualities. Sherwin Williams A 100 base #4 is one that can be used.

With the deep tint base keep it stirred up. Sometimes it will separate and be milky when it dries.

2 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis, Jr said:

Another alternative is exterior paint. You get the deep tin base and tell them not to tint it. It looks milky in the can but dries water clear and still has the exterior protective qualities. Sherwin Williams A 100 base #4 is one that can be used.

This seems like the best option, since I have never really found an exterior varnish that actually holds up to the elements, even though they are promoted as such. Seems to me the paint industry has been way more successful in creating paints that last years.

 

Hey Ron, I am not sure what your signs look like, but what if you just used exterior gloss paint?

Lacquer?

8 hours ago, John Morris said:

This seems like the best option, since I have never really found an exterior varnish that actually holds up to the elements, even though they are promoted as such. Seems to me the paint industry has been way more successful in creating paints that last years.

 

Hey Ron, I am not sure what your signs look like, but what if you just used exterior gloss paint?

thats what I have started using and it is working pretty good so far,some of my signs I am just not goin to use clear,they havea gloss to them already

the first is just clear on the WV,left the white like it is,came out fine,Harley sign is w/out any clear,black is flat to show off the white an Orange

 

Nice work Ron!!!!!!!!

beautiful...

am getting better,now wife wants a new dresser,says you build it for me lol,will post updates in it,plus doing a coffetable for a friend who is helping me out by Building a NEW addtion to the shop lol,it just keeps growing

 

I would not use lacquer -- its solvents will bubble many other finishes.

 

But the real question is "Why do you think you need to put a clear finish over the paint?"   If there are sections that are unpainted wood, then as Stick says, "Put on the clear coat first, then the paint."   Otherwise, as a friend of mine once said, "How many people do you know that paint their house and then put on a coat of polyurethane?"   Neighbors of mine and his son are second- and third- (and his grandson is a forth-) generation sign painters.  They do not put on a clear coat over paint.

A complicating factor is that most clear finishes don't do well in UV environments (e.g., outdoors).   The possible exception is the deep tint base, but again, why is it needed?   If it's indoor, then the acrylic (water-borne) finishes usually dry clear to lightly bluish, but some have some added amber to simulate what we're used to seeing.