Which Clear Coat worked best ?
We test seven types of clear coat - head to head !
- We tried for the most consistency across the board, but we admittedly, are not perfect.
- All products were new samples, maintained and stored the same way.
- I do NOT benefit from your purchase of any of these products.
- All links are normal links - no affiliate links exist or are used.
- I do NOT own or have any personal interest with any of these brands.
Materials Tested:
Which one is the clear winner?
From Lacquer to Water and Oil Based Polyurethane, we used the most common available
Price vs Value:
A quick glance shows one with a very attractive price !
This is one of those cases where the price is too good to be true. While this one appears to be way in the lead, the more the test continues, the more another entry starts to make the most sense ! Which one of these do you currently use?
Ease of Use:
Nozzle Considerations - the one on the can, and the one on your face !
Only 1 and 5 were "ready to give to a customer" in my opinion after just 24 hours. The rest needed 48 hours for the smell to not be a concern. 6 and 7 still had a distinct smell, but you had to intentionally smell it. The day prior? 6 was very strong, even feet away. The adjustable nozzles were nice for the cans equipped with it. The spray was predictable, and offered excellent coverage edge to edge. I much preferred this style over the traditional nozzle you are accustomed to.
Using Masking over Clear Coat:
The results were pretty close across the 7 clear coats we tested.
Glowforge encourages the material they are a supplier for, but it is costly, rarely in stock, and the biggest issue I have with it? Gorilla Tape damages the finish it comes with - and easily ! I like being able to take a piece of tap and dab it over and over on small pieces, and this will harm the work piece on the Glowforge Proofgrade clear coating. It however did not affect and of the clear coats tested, which was impressive. 6 and 7 performed the worst, while the others did quite well with either masking that we used. This round was a toss up - making a case for any of the clears numbered 1-5
Overall Performance:
Water resistance, ability to clean, and tendency to have a yellow tint....
All of them performed identical to the water test if they were coated with clear - no matter the type or brand. Even after 10 minutes, all still had a perfect bead of water with no absorption. All cleaned equally as well as other when engraved without a mask. A simple baby wipe took the sticky char right off, certainly making a case for not using masks on some projects. 1 through 3 were the only ones that were perfectly clear in our test, where 4-7 did offer varying yellow tints on the white paint wood that we used for testing.
Winner: Minwax (Tie)
Scroll down for actual Testing Photos
Wait - there were TWO Minwax. ANd you could make a case for either
Here is why we believe you should use Minwax # 3:
- Second least expensive
- No yellow tint, even when applied to bright white paint
- No odor after 48 hours
Things to Consider with Minwax # 3:
- Comes with a traditional nozzle
Here is why we believe you should use Minwax # 4:
- Least expensive of the bunch - and by a fair margin
- Has an excellent adjustable fan nozzle
- No odor after 48 hours
Things to Consider with Minwax # 4:
- Will add a slight yellow tint - but you may not notice that if you are not putting it on light wood like maple or basswood, or wood that you painted white. For anything like Cherry, Walnut, etc - you might be happy with the results, and the cost savings !
Truth is, all of them:
- Offered water resistance
- Protected the wood from Gorilla Tape
- Protected the wood from Plastic Razor Blades
Personally, I would just NOT use 5, 6, and 7. There were the most costly, had the largest odor, had an obvious yellow tint, didn't allow good cohesion of the masking, and were not better than the 1-4 options we tested.
We might not have found a "clear" winner, but we certainly found a few products that shouldn't be your "go to". Use them if you already have them, but know there are better options.
Photos from Testing:
1-3 were clear in our test
1-3 were clear in our test
1-3 were clear in our test
We looked under sunlight, under a flashlight, and under the lighting in our home, and it appeared that all of these were clear. We thought that 2 MIGHT have the slightest yellow in some lighting conditions, but we were never certain, so it got a "clear" pass. 1 and 3 were undoubtedly, crystal clear in this sample. Considering the same piece of wood and paint was used, we feel confident in these results.
Yellow Tint on 4-7
1-3 were clear in our test
1-3 were clear in our test
Again, looking at these in multiple light sources just confirmed what we saw. These clear coats absolutely have a yellow tint to them. This is after 2 medium coats of clear. The black lines were actually covered with 1" of tape for the spraying of the clear coats, and you can easily see the color change outside of the black line where the tape was before being removed. "5" also reacted to the sharpie marker, that was done the day prior.
Water Bead Test
1-3 were clear in our test
Engrave with No Masking
This was a 7 way tie - 8 if you include the Glowforge Proofgrade wood we tested. All of them had an initial bead of water, and it still looked the same after 10 minutes. We wouldn't recommend any of these for outside use based on the testing we did here, as it was not detailed or strenuous enough for that purpose.
Engrave with No Masking
Clear Coat Affect Cutting?
Engrave with No Masking
One advantage that all of the clear coats was rumored to offer was the ability to not use masking at all - and simply wipe away with denatured alcohol, baby wipes, magic erasers and a few other methods discussed on the forums, so we have to try it out. We engraved these circles after we removed the masking so that we could test this ability.
After Cleaning with Wipe
Clear Coat Affect Cutting?
Clear Coat Affect Cutting?
Well, it appears the rumors are true. While we only tested the baby wipe method, it worked. For some reason I still much prefer the masking, especially now that I learned about the plastic razor blades for removal - but for the times that the engraving is small, or the masking pulls away, this is absolutely a benefit I look to enjoy here in the future ! I noticed no remnants of the sticky char after the wipe was used.
Clear Coat Affect Cutting?
Clear Coat Affect Cutting?
Clear Coat Affect Cutting?
I previously ran an extensive test of wood from a new supplier. Since I had just dialed those settings in, it made sense to see if the clear affected these in any way. Nothing was conclusive that the clear coat required you to modify known good cut settings. This was tested on 2 medium coats, so you may need to slow your settings if you put heavy coats - but you may not from what we have seen here.