Many advantages of lacquers and lacquer enamels over varnishes and varnish enamels have been advanced by manufacturers and enthusiastic users of new quick drying nitrocellulose finishes. They are very valuable for certain kinds of work, but their use has been misunderstood and, in the hands of novices, there have been many discouraging failures. Nevertheless, more experienced users and manufacturers of these nitrocellulose lacquers have noticed many advantages.

These lacquers can be set up quickly. They dry hard much sooner than varnishes do, allowing the production rate of goods to be sped up and the amount of floor space used for drying to be lessened. Also, because of the quick drying time, dust specks are much less likely to land on the wet surface. The dry, finished coating from these lacquers is very stable and hard. It does not oxidize and crumble away with time, unlike many oil varnishes.

This way, the fine wood that was used to make the furniture can last throughout the ages. If the product doesn't have a proper varnish, it won't matter if the maker had access to a fiberglass measuring tape. This isn't to say that logger measure tapes aren't important, it's just that even a pocket measuring tape couldn't make up for a crummy, crumbling varnish job only a couple of decades after the piece of furniture was built.

When used by an expert, lacquer coatings are extremely durable and have a long lifespan. They are not easily affected by exposure to soap, diluted alcohol, weak acids, oils, road tar, water, ice, moderate temperature changes, or sunlight. They also hold up well against wear. They do not change in tone or shade while they are drying, so you can be fairly sure of what the finished product will look like throughout the entire finishing product. They are also somewhat moisture resistant.

However, there are some disadvantages to lacquer finishes as well. They are difficult to apply with brushes because the finishes set and dry too quickly. They also are absorbed by undercoats, so they tend to shrink while during. This can make dealing with porous woods extremely difficult. Not even the most advanced metric tape measure nor the most elusive unique tape measures can help you with this, as tape measure clips and various other things do not have a great effect on the wood finishing job.

Also, some of the solvents in the lacquer are the same as or similar to the liquids in paint and varnish removers. Thus, if undercoats of varnish, enamel, oil, wax, or paint are used directly under the lacquer coating, then they can be softened and destroyed. This can be avoided by giving the undercoats an overcoat of shellac.

Lacquers should also not be applied directly over surfaces that have been finished with linseed oil stains or ordinary wood fillers because it can streak, bleed, and make a ems due to the solvents upon the linseed oil in the undercoats. Thus, under lacquer finishes, the absolute minimum of water stains and wood fillers containing linseed oil should be used. Similarly to other types of undercoats, a coating of shellac over the wood filler can protect it from the lacquer solvents.

Spirit soluble stains also cannot be used directly under clear lacquer finishes without the danger of obtaining a muddy effect. The lacquer finishes must be thin when applied to a surface, reducing their body/depth and requiring a greater number of coats than ordinary. The extremely glossy look that is obtained from rubbing and polishing varnishes cannot be coaxed out of surfaces with a lacquer.