Paint finish on Baltic Birch

[fRED mCnEILL]

I have a customer who wants me to paint a box made of baltic birch silver. I have tried spray cans because I can't seem to find the proper color in a latex or oil based finish. Basically the problem with the spray can stuff is that it doesn't cover the graining in the wood. Perhaps I should spray a base coat of latex and then try the spray can.

Any idea.

thanks

Fred

[glenn bradley]

Primer is your friend. A high build primer sanded smooth followed by a compatible color coat. I tend toward Zinsser B.I.N. for plywood due to the shellac component for sealing/blocking.

[Dale Murray]

I would think "fill and sand" primer would be the first step. I am not entirely sure that is the correct name but should point you in a direction - right or wrong.

[John TenEyck]

As Glenn said, BIN shellac based pigmented primer works great on plywood. It dries very fast and sands w/o corning on sandpaper. It works great on BB and lesser grade plywoods. This was BORG maple plywood. BIN primer + GF Enduro White Poly.


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John

[Dale Murray]

John,
I am very interested to know more about how you achieved this finish. My wife wants white cabinets in the kitchen and white builtins in two bedrooms; I've been shying away from it not knowing what finishing tools and schedule would be required.

Please share in great detail.

[Mike Monroe]

For bare wood I start with Sherwin-Williams Wall & Wood Primer. For wood already finished with a clear coat of some sort, I start with BIN Primer.

[John TenEyck]

Dale, that finish was done by first filling all the nicks and dents with wood filler, sanding, and repeating until I thought I had everything perfect. Then I sprayed a coat of BIN pigmented shellac primer. I've also used the SW's Wall and Wood Primer, but prefer BIN for a couple of reasons. BIN has a surprisingly low viscosity, about 35 seconds #4 Ford cup, while the SW's product is something like 500 seconds. At that viscosity you either need an airless or pressure feed sprayer, or you have to thin it a lot to get it through a common HVLP gun. With BIN you can spray it with any old gravity feed HVLP gun, although I now use a pressure assisted one. The other reason I don't like the SW's product is because it's water based, so it tends to raise the grain. That can be a problem on materials sensitive to water like MDF. BIN is shellac based and avoids that potential problem.

So, I sprayed a coat of BIN and then checked for defects I hadn't seen before. Of course, there were some, so I filled those, sanded them smooth, and then reshot those areas with primer, as well as any other areas that were thin after the first coat. What you need to end up with is a uniform white - and no defects. Also note, you can tint BIN to any shade you want to better match the paint that's going on top.

The topcoat was GF's Enduro White Poly. I applied it directly over the BIN, without sanding the BIN; I think it improves adhesion. Enduro White Poly has a viscosity of about 100 seconds #4 Ford cup, so you can't easily spray it with a gravity feed HVLP gun w/o thinning it. I'd rather not do that, so I bought a pressure assisted HVLP gun, a Qualspray AM-6008 Smart Pak from Homestead Finishing, with the 3M PPS cup. Love this gun. It sprays everything from water based dyes to 500 seconds viscosity paints like BM Advance beautifully. And with the 3M PPS cup you can spray at any angle, including upside down. I've found this particularly helpful in getting inside of cabinets, spraying deep drawers, etc. If you don't have or want to buy a pressure assisted gun then you might want to consider ML Campbell's White Aqualente. It has a very low viscosity, about the same as BIN primer.

I sprayed two coats of the Enduro White Poly, two to three hours apart. I sanded lightly with 400 grit in between coats to knock off any dust nibs, etc.. Spraying Enduro White Poly is not hard. It flows out beautifully, but will sag if you apply it too heavily on vertical surfaces. For me, the right amount to spray is the amount that looks just a little too thin. 5 minutes later it has leveled out and looks good. The next day it looks great. You might think there is some orange peel when it first dries, but the next day it will be dead flat.

Enduro White Poly is KCMA rated, so it should stand up well to a kitchen environment.

John

[Mike Monroe]

I should have mentioned I used a Graco airless to spray the S-W Wall and Wood primer on bare wood and the product lays down beautifully. I've never had an issue with the grain raising, but then I also lightly sand the primer before applying the water based S-W acrylic topcoat - again with the Graco airless unit.

[John TenEyck]

I should have mentioned I used a Graco airless to spray the S-W Wall and Wood primer on bare wood and the product lays down beautifully. I've never had an issue with the grain raising, but then I also lightly sand the primer before applying the water based S-W acrylic topcoat - again with the Graco airless unit.


That makes perfect sense, Mike. The SW products are very nice if you have the right equipment to handle them. I assume the acrylic topcoat was ProClassic? Very nice stuff, too.

John

[Dale Murray]

At this time I have absolutely zero spray equipment which is, I suppose, good and bad. Good in that I can get the right stuff the first time. Bad in that I will certainly be in sticker shock. I do have a relatively decent two cylinder compressor.