Finishing new cabinet

I am a novice, but enjoying building my first cabinets very much!

The doors are built and ready to finish. They are made with 3/4 x 2-1/2 poplar rails and stiles and 3/4 MDF panel. I glued the entire perimeter of the panel for strengths since the doors are a little large at 24 wide x 29 tall. I will be finishing with BM Stix primer and BM Advance top coats. I am hoping you can help me with a few questions so I can get the best possible finish.

1) Is there ANY benefit to spraying the primer coats? I will definitely spray the top coats with my AccuSpray, but just curious if I can simplify things and brush on the primer (sanding after each of two coats) instead of spraying the primer. Would it affect the final finish at all? This applies to the poplar face frames also.

2) The routed parts of the MDF raised panel are rough. Do they need any pre-treatment, or will the two coats of primer and sanding take care of that, and allow the top coats to have a smooth appearance over the entire surface?

Thank you!

Jeff, you may or may not have issue with wood movement and those glued panels. While the MDF is stable, the poplar does move. (trust me, I know...my whole kitchen full of cabinets uses poplar for rails/stiles and face frames)

On your question about the routed areas of the MDF, I suggest sanding, sealing with the primer and sanding again. Repeat/rinse if needed before you go to your top coats.

1) Yes, there is one huge benefit to spraying the primer coats. It will look better after the finish coats are done. Any brush marks left from the primer will telegraph through the finish coats unless you sand them completely out, and to do that you often end up sanding through to bare wood in some areas. Spraying just makes it so much easier.

2) You can prime/sand/repeat on the routed edges of the MDF or you can fill those pores with lightweight joint compound, sand that smooth, and then proceed with the primer. I just butter the routed areas with the joint compound using my finger, then wipe off the excess.

IMO, your glued in panels, and the frames, will be fine.

John

Thank you, guys! I appreciate your help.

My rail/stile joints are pretty tight, but a few of them have a hairline gap... less than 1/64"... less than a sharp pencil line. Do I need to fill these with MinWax wood filler (2 part) or will my two primer coats fill this gap? Also, on a test board I painted up to check the top coat color, the MDF must have had a scratch on it that I did not see before it was finished... but it telegraphed through the top coat. I had not primed it, since I was only testing the top coat color... would the primer coats have eliminated this also, or do I need to fill and sand any scratches in the mdf?

Whatever defects are there will show through unless you eliminate them before/during priming. Paint shows defects much worse than clear coat.

John

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Originally Posted by Jeff Scozzafava

Thank you, guys! I appreciate your help.

My rail/stile joints are pretty tight, but a few of them have a hairline gap... less than 1/64"... less than a sharp pencil line. Do I need to fill these with MinWax wood filler (2 part) or will my two primer coats fill this gap? Also, on a test board I painted up to check the top coat color, the MDF must have had a scratch on it that I did not see before it was finished... but it telegraphed through the top coat. I had not primed it, since I was only testing the top coat color... would the primer coats have eliminated this also, or do I need to fill and sand any scratches in the mdf?

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Use auto body glazing putty. Even the bondo glazing putty works well.

BM makes a specific primer for Advance but requires 8 hours to recoat. I have used BIN primer numerous times under Advance and it has worked wonderfully and is inexpensive and fast and easy cleanup. There are several other posts on SMC praising BIN under Advance.

BIN shellac based primer works great under Advance, dries in minutes, and is a much better choice on MDF than waterborne primer.

Thanks for all the advice!

I am now at the point of having finished two coats of primer... sanded between and after each with 400 grit. Have a real nice smooth finish on all wood and MDF (even the routed MDF parts). I sprayed the first coat of Advance. It looks pretty good. I am reading a lot of conflicting info about whether to sand before the next coat of Advance or not... and if so, with what... what grit... dry or wet... 000 synthetic?... for adhesion and/or for smooth final finish?

My plan after second coat of Advance is to glaze (Rusotleum Java Brown) the interior hard edges, and finish with two coats of General High Performance Flat. If the answer was yes to sand between Advance coats, is it also yes to sand before and between High Performance Flat coats also? The Advance is Satin... do I really care about the satin finish on this? If I sand it to ensure it is nice and smooth and dull the surface, do I care? Doesn't the final coat of High performance really dictate the final finish look?

I sand between coats of Advance. I normally have to wait at least 16 hours for it to harden enough to sand w/o gumming up on the paper. I use 400 or 600 grit and scuff sand only enough to remove the nibs, etc. The long dry/cure time is the one true shortcoming of Advance. It takes weeks or months for the stuff to really cure. Once it finally does, it's very tough and durable, but it sure is easy to damage during the first week or so.

After the last coat of Advance I would either not sand at all or, if I did, I'd use 600 grit. I'd be concerned about scratches showing through the clearcoat.

John

Thanks, John... Sounds like you are sanding just to ensure smooth finish... that is my purpose also... and I am going to go the 400/600 route between paint coats... and probably 1000 before glaze/clear just to knock down any nibs. Although, I got conflicting info from Benjamin Moore, which, honestly, I do not have confidence in... they said if it sits for more than 24 hours between coats, you need to sand with 220 to help adhesion of the next coat... but 220 seems very coarse to me, and I would be concerned about removing too much paint and having primer show through in places or scratches that will be visible after next coat.

I am also building open shelf upper cabinets to sit on the base cab counter top. Counter top will be stained dark, and top open shelves will be painted with same primer and Advance as the doors and base cab face frames. The upper shelves will have 1.5" face frame edges with small 1/8 rabbet on top and bottom edges, which will also get mocha glaze highlight (like doors) to tie into lowers.

Since I am finishing the doors with two coats of General Finished High Perf Flat after the glaze, should the base cab face frames and the upper cab shelves all be finished with the clear coats also? Or should I just use clear coats on the doors and leave the upper shelf paint and edge glazing alone to be the final coat?