Varicure® Select and Variset® Select

Two new product families from Chemcraft^®, an AkzoNobel wood coatings brand, offer special advantages to woodshops that are coating various wood substrates and MDF. Varicure^® Select and Variset^® Select Pre-catalyzed systems take chemical and moisture resistance to a whole new level.

Varicure Select Clear Topcoat is the newest addition to the company’s highly regarded Varicure line. It exceeds the current pre-catalyzed industry standards for chemical and moisture resistance, delivering the type of performance that woodworkers usually find only in higher performance technologies. It’s fast building due to its high solids, and it demonstrates excellent moisture, household wear, household chemical, solvent and mar resistance. This is a one-component, high solids, pre-catalyzed coating. Its high solids formulation is easy-to-use, and it delivers excellent feel and appearance. The topcoat comes in flat, matte, low gloss, satin, semi-gloss and high gloss versions. It meets the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturer Association (KCMA) and Architectural Woodwork Association (AWI) standards.

Varicure Select Vinyl Sealer is also a one-component, pre-catalyzed coating that’s designed to be used with the Varicure Select system. It dries fast and sands easily to provide a smooth finish, and it’s provided at a ready-to-use viscosity for ease of application. The bases are in MaestroHue, an automated digital color-matching tint system developed by Chemcraft.

The other innovation from Chemcraft is Variset Select HH White Topcoat, which is a white pre-catalyzed pigmented topcoat. It, too, exceeds the current pre-cat industry standards for chemical and moisture resistance, which is an impressive feat for a pigmented product. This system has high hide and excellent coverage, even on MDF. Variset Select’s high solids formulation is user friendly with excellent feel and appearance, and it’s formulated to provide maximum color stability.

It is recommended for kitchen cabinets, office and household furniture, as well as other interior wood applications.

Variset Select Clear Tint Base Topcoat is for use when deep, dark colors are desired, as it has excellent color stability. This tinting base is specially formulated to minimize color flooding and floating, and it’s compatible with the other primers and topcoats available in the Variset Select line. Those include Variset Select White and Neutral Vinyl Primers, which are one-component, high solids, pre-catalyzed coatings that have excellent hiding and filling properties. They are easy to use, sand quickly and easily, and have superior moisture resistance. They have excellent adhesion and outstanding vertical hang/sag resistance. All Varicure and Variset Select tint bases are in Chemcraft’s automated tint system, MaestroHue.

A pre-catalyzed coating has a catalyst added to it at the factory, so the woodworker doesn’t need to include this step in the finishing process. The catalyst initiates a reaction that begins the curing process on applied coatings as it creates a bond between polymer chains.

The Chemcraft team understands the challenges being faced by woodshops in a changing world. The company’s distributors have deep industry experience, and many of them worked in wood finishing shops before moving to distribution. Chemcraft builds on that experience by offering its distributors in-depth product and application technique training at the company’s training facility. And through them, woodworkers have access to product information, material safety information, color and finishing trends, and all the latest innovations such as Varicure Select and Variset Select.

AkzoNobel Chemcraft has offices in High Point, N.C., Salem, Ore., Port Hope, Ontario and Warwick, Quebec. The company offers a complete range of coatings, stains and color systems for professional wood finishes including pre-catalyzed and post-catalyzed products, plus polyurethane and waterborne finishes. Woodshops can visit chemcraft.com for more information and to locate their nearest distributor.