Furniture Wood Painted?

[Eric Williams]

What is the best wood to use for making furniture that will be painted when finished? I assume something with a tight grain and good structural strength not pine. I thought of poplar, isn't that what most manufactures use?

[Jim Becker]

Poplar, Maple, Clear pine and similar are all good choices for painted furniture. And do select the right "paint", too...latex from the 'borg is not the best choice for furniture. If you have spray capablity, acrylics from Target Coatings and Fuhr International or similar are better choices and some of the top paint companies, such as Sherwin Williams, have good products that will perform well. The latter has been mentioned a few times in the SMC finishing forum by the "resident painting pros".

[Larry Fox]

There is also Milk Paint which you can use and create some nifty effects. I have used in on poplar for a few projects but have not tried it on any other wood. For me, if I am painting my first thought is poplar.

[Brian Tuftee]

Vote for poplar or clear pine. If you do paint with latex, I would pre-raise the grain by misting with water, letting dry, then sanding lightly with 120 grit. Otherwise, the water in latex will raise the grain and leave you with a roughened texture (which may not be bad, just depends on what you're looking for). I recently made some kitchen shelves out of clear pine and gloss latex paint, they look pretty good.

[Jim Becker]

Brian, the other finishes I mentioned are also water borne and the same grain raising applies. But I most often hit with my first coat, let it dry and then take off the resulting "whiskers" with some 320 before shooting additional coats. Once in awhile, I need to "de-whisker" a second time, but in general it works just fine. If you do choose to raise the grain, it's best to use distilled water. A gallon jug will last a LONG time if you keep the top on!

[Eric Williams]

I checked out the companies mentioned but they were not paint companies rather stain. So you say acrylic over latex is acrylic the same as enamel? You always primer, quick sand and then final color top coat? Need something durable will be childrens furniture so I am guessing enamel is better then latex.

Poplar is what I will stick with unless I want the knotty pine look for a stain finish thanks for the advise. I will start a thread in the finishing forum to go over peoples painting routines.

[Jim Becker]

Target Coatings specializes in water borne acrylic finishes...not "stain". The USL product can be tinited to any color you need. Fuhr International 9100 is the same. Jeff Jewitt at Homestead finishing is an excellent source and can match your color choice well...he did it for me for my kitchen project in 2003 with the 9100. The Sherwin Williams product I mentioned (Proclassic Waterborne Interior Acrylic Gloss Enamel) is an acrylic enamel, not "latex" paint--and quite brushable, too. It's true that most latex paints are acrylic based, but the latex component makes them very soft.

[Karle Woodward]

Birch, Maple and clear pine paint well. I would not even consider putting latex paint on a project, unless I didn't care much about it. A quality oil based enamal will look better in both the short run and long run.