Clear coat suggestions

[Ken Higginbotham]

Hi all,

I am doing a project with pine and plan on staining then painting with a darker color latex. Then I will sand through some of the paint to distress the finish. I did another project this way and spray canned on a clear coat of lacquer and it turned out really nice. With this new project I am wondering if the spray can lacquer is the best way to go? The first project was a small table we keep on the back porch and this newest project is a coffee table. Thanks for any input - !

ken

[John TenEyck]

Any waterborne varnish should work well.

John

[Jim Becker]

Using any kind of solvent based lacquer over other finishes can result in problems...like the lacquer dissolving them or crazing the finish. I agree with John that using a water borne clear product is a better choice. Do keep in mind that most "latex" paints are relatively soft and applying a clear finish over them doesn't necessarily work well for durability. If you choose a 100% acrylic product that cures harder or a water borne alkyd emulsion like BM Advance, you'll have better results than plain "latex" paint.

[Rob Young]

The GF Milk paints are acrylic, sold in reasonably small quantities well sized to the average project. Lots of color choices and can be mixed together. Generally compatible with the method described and waterborne topcoats. And the GF milk paints cover very well and apply easily with brush or gun.

Details escape me at the moment but there was a problem a few years ago with one particular color and I think the GF waterborne poly or maybe their oil-modified. At any rate, it wouldn't bond right to that particular color (black I think). Chemistry problem. May have been resolved due to formulations, could have been confluence of errors in particular batches, or maybe I'm just having a micro-stroke and remembering things wrong. John TenEyck might have the details.

[Ken Higginbotham]

Ok - So I can get GF products at the local Woodcraft store. Is there a better type 'stain' to go under the milk paint? And is there a preferred clear coat product to go over it?

Thanks for the help!

Edit: I see GF has a topcoat for milk paint products. I assume it would be a good choice...

[John TenEyck]

I think you could use any of GF's waterbased stains or dye stains under their milk paint. As was said, GF's milk paint is very nice stuff, acrylic actually. It goes on beautifully with a foam brush. GF recommends their High Performance Poly as a topcoat over their milk paint and it's a very nice product, though not very chemically durable. You could apply that whole system with a brush if you wanted to. If you have spray equipment you could step up to GF's Enduro Clear Poly as the topcoat. It looks just like the HP Poly, but is a lot more chemically durable.

Rob, I used HP Poly over GF's Black Milk Paint, about 2 years ago, and had no problems. Actually, it came out great. I have no info. on the problem you mentioned, sorry.

John

[Rob Young]

The only thing I'd avoid is an oil base stain unless you also seal it in with shellac. In fact, a spit coat of shellac is probably in order between whatever you pick as the stain/dye color and the GF milk paint/acrylic. This is to minimize the paint pulling out color from the stain/dye job.

[Andy Giddings]

I don't think you'll need a stain with Milk Paint as it covers very well on raw wood and is self sealing (no primer required). If you want to distress it, have a look at their website as there are quite a few how to do it videos on distressing, glazing etc

[Ken Higginbotham]

Ok - I stopped by woodcraft and got gf stain, milk paint and gf clear coat. All water based. And I'll go to their web site and look at the videos - thanks for the advice -I'll post some pics later.

[Ken Higginbotham]

351457
Here's what I am finishing. I am hoping the stain will result in a more uniform under-color when I sand through it to distress it. The greenish legs look a bit odd. And I kind of learned my lesson with pressure treated wood if the staining step doesn't work :) It's just that 4x6 pine in non pressure treated seems to be a $pecialty product around here.

[Andy Giddings]

Just checking, Ken - is the bench going to be used inside only? Also, "green" pine is notorious for being really wet due to the pressure treatment. Has it dried out completely? Might cause finish issues otherwise

[Ken Higginbotham]

Inside. It is really dry. Been in my shed for 8+ years. I painted up a couple of test pcs last night with the GF products and don't anticipate any bleed type issues.