I do not know the method originally used by Schatz, et. al. It was either spraying, dipping or brushing ... perhaps a combination of all three.
Any time you have high temperature, plus humidity, you'll always have a problem with the lacquer drying too quickly (orange peel) and trapping humidity (milky finish). Spray nozzles on aerosol cans are fine for lawn furniture, but I've never had much success on the finer pieces where a high glossy finish counts as on a piece of polished brass.
Over the years I've experimented with various products. I always come back to:
Dupont automotive lacquer
Dupont retarder (helps it to set and dry slowly)
Dupont lacquer thinner
A clean badger's hair bristle brush (natural fiber)
You must have a clean and dustfree work environment. If your work is carefully placed, you have everything in place, you'll eliminate frustration and actually enjoy doing this.
I run an air filter in my shop 24/7. I have a central vacuum system so that the discharge goes outdoors. I generally keep my doors and windows shut. It's a better work environment, clean, dustfree, quiet.
The objective is to put down a THIN coat of lacquer, thus it's important to add sufficient thinner so that you don't have to contend with a thick gob of lacquer that just sits and won't flow. The retarder is for high humidity days, but my preference is to wait for a low humidity day and normal room temperature.
DO make up a small booth to do your work. I use an old corrugated box that the Maytag washer came in. It breaks down when not in use; it assembles quickly with duct tape and sits atop a couple of saw horses. The front is open. A slit in the top is adequate for a small portable fluorescent light. The bottom of the booth is covered with waxed paper. Finished pieces won't stick to the stuff. The walls of the "booth" are dotted with holes where I've hung pieces of the clock from bent wire (the half shells of the pendulum balls, clock plates.
Before use, I mist the inside of the box and work area with my wife's plant mister. It settles any dust. I close up the front with a piece of cardboard. Wait for a few hours for the humidity to dissipate.
Now you're ready to begin. All of your brass must be free of cleaning residue, fingerprints, etc. You could rinse down all of your clock parts to be lacquered with lacquer thinner. I do this, AND I keep them in a stainless steel mixing bowl submerged in lacquer thinner, ready to be coated. If covered, you'll not be overcome by fumes.
Wearing protective gloves (assures no fingerprints too), apply a THIN coat of lacquer with your brush. Assure your brush is loaded, brush once, one direction, set down the piece on the waxed paper. Most pieces can be lacquered "in place" on the waxed paper without handling. Keep your tweezers handy just in case.
It's a lot of preparation, but the results merit it.
If you can still stand up from the fumes, leave the room, enjoy a cuppa!
