Hello all! I’ve been spraying cabinetry white a lot lately. I’ve been using Sherwood Kem Aqua surfacer , a seal coat with Sherwin’s shellac primer and kem aqua plus As the finish. I typically do 2 coats of primer for good adhesive, a coat of shellac for stain killing and two top coats. This is a bulky process for my white finishes. I’m trying to find a product that combines the aspects of the surfacer and shellac. I’m looking for something with, low to medium odors, good adhesive, stain blocking and a quicker dry time. Shellac meets all of these besides the odor. Even wearing a mask with high ventilation it sometimes seems overbearing. Any thoughts?

I haven’t tried them yet but my thoughts are
-Pigmented Kem aqua plus waterborne sealer as a primer.
-kills restoration (max)

Why do you need a blocking stain? Are you spraying restoration cabinetry or something else not new materials?

What about white vinyl primer. Pretty much blocks anything, pretty equivalent to shellac. Not sure if it comes in a waterborne, I know it exists in solvent. It's not exactly smell free LOL.

Dude if you can't stand the smell of denatured alcohol....lol Jump into our world of acid catalyzed varnishes ,2K polyurethanes & polyesters..

Probably 1 coat of M L Campbell's Clawlock II high solids primer will replace all those primer steps. It sure would be worth a try, but you won't like the smell is my guess. Experiment on some scrap of course!

Clawlock isn't a blocking primer. Take a black magic marker and write on a pc of wood and prime it. It'll keep showing through for 2 coats.

I use Bin Shellac. You can get by with one coat but two coats gives you a great primed surface especially on big end panels and refer panels etc.... Then I hit it with a 50-50 coat of GF white under coat/whatever white-ish poly I have laying around and then two top coats. Finish product is bullet prood and plush.

Don't hit the first coats of shellac or WB primer hard. Basically a wet spit coat. Knock it down with 320 and then a semi wet coat. Nice thing is the Bin drys super quick and sands easily.

my 2cts

There are only two staining issues we ever consider. Soft maple and poplar. Some of the dark veins in the soft maple and those green/purple pieces of poplar will leach into the primer coat. We’ve been using MLC Aguelente wb primer and MLC Polystar since the early 2000’s. Amazing product. You can see it lock-in the stains.

I use a WB finish system for pigmented/ painted jobs and l do much the same as you except l mark any stained areas with a pencil during my first sand and just spot prime those areas with pigmented shellac then spot sand. It won't be a huge time/ material savings, but it will be some.
Also, l'm a fan of chemcraft Aquaprime, get your hands on some and give it a try, you won't be disappointed. And, quit using SW's pigmented shellac and switch to Zinnser's, the better quality will make your work day easier.
I've discovered WB finish systems take more time, effort and (IMHO) skill to get professional results with that yes, aren't as durable as CV or 2k poly finishes but they do make the shop environment a lot more livable.

PS; ML Campbell makes a WB stain blocking primer called "Arroyo" l haven't used it but it sounds like what you're looking for.

Why not talk to your tech's at your SW industrial division? They will give you a combo that will meet SW spec's and likely trim down the bulk. If your pulling KemAqua from a local branch just ask them for the contact at industrial and bypass the branch. You'd get far better information.

At least in my area the local branches are useless as **** on a ****. Thankfully we cant even pull KemAqua from them and all must go through industrial and they know the product(s) inside and out.

Try General Finishes "Stain Blocker Primer". Developed for exactly the application you're describing. I have used it on new cabinets under white finishes and it works great. Not cheap, but it works.

General Finishes Stain Blocker