Lacquer is a great finish. When Done right it's durable and beautiful. But it's also finicky and if you don't do everything just right you can end up with bad results.
A Blushed Finish. Blushing happens in high humidity when your lacquer dries too fast trapping water vapor in the top coat. Lacquer Retarder is an additive that you can add to lacquer to minimize or prevent blushing, but it increases the dry time.
The good news is that you can often remove blushing without having to completely sand and refinish your work.
To repair the top in this video I first mix a blend of 50% Lacquer thinner and 50% Lacquer Retarder and spray the top with a light and even coat. This redissolves the lacquer and the retarder allows the finish to slowly dry and release any trapped moisture.
I was able to fix this first coat, and by keeping a high ratio of thinner and retarder in my finish coats I was able to achieve the results I wanted.
