‘Yes, but …’
Joeri Vervoort hesitated for a while before agreeing to this interview. After all, this is a particularly subtle subject where you need a good grasp of various parameters. The general tone of his reaction was: ‘Yes, it’s possible, but it’s not always feasible or even advisable. No, certainly not according to Devomat’.

He begins: ‘There’s rather a lot of juggling with the philosophy of oil which can be lacquered over. In all this, I have to stress that we at Devomat adopt a cautious approach when advising clients. Firstly, you have to make it clear that it isn’t possible by nature to apply lacquer over an oil and that you could get serious adhesion problems. However, I’m not claiming in any way that it’s impossible!’

It’s not a black and white issue.
‘The key issue to consider is the adhesion. There’s a misunderstanding here that this issue between oil and lacquer is black and white, but that’s not right. Otherwise, we couldn’t launch any products of our own. What you do always have to keep in mind is that there’s an adhesion test to check adhesion between the coats, and in our product development that’s something which we’re very strict about. Before you launch something on the market, you just have to be sure that it’s better than just good. Under no circumstances do we want to find ourselves in that grey area where adhesion is doubtful, but we still launch a product just because everyone else is doing it. Don’t misunderstand me: I’m not passing judgement on whether or not something should be allowed, but I’m reasoning purely on the basis of our own company’s point of view!’

‘The dilemma which lots of producers and parquet companies face is finding a happy medium between easy application and good-quality adhesion. Take our own stain Easy Colour as an example. This product is applied by machine, but it still isn’t as easy to apply as an oil. It’s simply a fact that whenever you deviate from a pure oil base, for instance by emulsifying an acrylate binding agent in the oil to improve the adhesion between the coats, the application becomes more difficult. By contrast, you’re offering a product which aims to find the ideal mix between that same easy application and the adhesion and that’s something which all producers deal with in their own way.’