Where does it start?
With what you are running now. We want your current product list, what you spray onto, what equipment you have and what your workshop is actually like in February rather than in June.
That last point decides more than anything else. A workshop that cannot hold 18°C overnight is not ready, and we would rather tell you that at the start than after you have bought product.
What comes out of the assessment?
A straight answer on three things: which of your products convert easily, which need more thought, and what has to change in the workshop before any of it works.
Most ranges split. Clear finishes on fine-pored timber and MDF tend to convert without difficulty. Pastel colours on ash, high-oil timbers and anything with an unusual chemical resistance requirement need sampling before we commit to anything.
What happens in a trial?
We sample on your substrates, in your workshop, with your people spraying. Not on a panel in our lab.
That is not a formality. The timber, the moisture content, the spray equipment, the air movement and the operator all change the result, and a sample that works beautifully here tells you very little about what happens on your line. It is also how your sprayers find out that the material behaves differently before it matters.
What equipment will I need?
This is where firm size makes the biggest difference.
Larger manufacturers usually have most of what is needed already — heated workshops, booths, air movement and often drying rooms — because they built the facility properly in the first place. For them the conversion is mostly a product and training exercise.
Smaller workshops are where this gets real. If the heating goes off at night, if there is no booth, if drying happens on a rack in the corner of an unheated unit, then the products are not the problem and no product will fix it. That is the honest constraint, and it is why we talk about workshop conditions before we talk about lacquer.
What usually needs looking at: heating that holds overnight rather than just during shifts, draft-free air movement, somewhere to dry that stays in range, spray booths, and stainless steel wetted parts on pumps and guns. We supply spray booths and drying equipment alongside the coatings, so this is one conversation rather than three.
Does it have to happen all at once?
No, and it usually should not. Converting one product or one line first gives your team a chance to learn the material on something low-risk. The usual starting point is a clear finish on a straightforward substrate, because it is the most forgiving.
Phasing also spreads the equipment cost, which for a smaller firm is often the thing that decides whether this happens at all.
What about training?
Included, and on site. The products apply differently, the cleaning is different, and the recoat windows are different. Most of the problems people have with water-based in the first month are habits carried over from solvent, not faults in the material.
How long does it take?
The product side is quick. Assessment, sampling and a first conversion can run over a few weeks. What sets the real timetable is any workshop or equipment work, and that is specific to your building. We would rather be honest about that at the start than optimistic.
Interested in reviewing your finishing process?
Get in touch with the Redwood team on 02392 233310 or email [email protected] to arrange an initial conversation.