What wood to use with a Milk Paint finish??

[Dave Falkenstein]

I am bidding a base and wall cabinet pair that will form a dry bar for a client. She wants them finished using Milk Paint. Someone else will be doing the finishing, not me. Normally on painted projects I would use poplar or maple for the hardwood parts and birch ply for the carcasses. What are the best choices for materials when using a Milk Paint finish??? Does the grain typically show through, or is the finish opaque, like other paints??? Thanks.

[Bill Eshelman]

How about making some for a test?

http://www.realmilkpaint.com/recipe.html

I never made it, but always thought it sounded cool.

[Gary Keedwell]

I am bidding a base and wall cabinet pair that will form a dry bar for a client. She wants them finished using Milk Paint. Someone else will be doing the finishing, not me. Normally on painted projects I would use poplar or maple for the hardwood parts and birch ply for the carcasses. What are the best choices for materials when using a Milk Paint finish??? Does the grain typically show through, or is the finish opaque, like other paints??? Thanks.
Hi Dave,
I think it would depend on how many coats and how thick you spread it. I made a chimney cabinet for the master bedroom so we could store our towels and LOML painted it with milk paint and then stenciled it. She finished it off with a topcoat of BLO.
It came out looking like "rustic country". Looks real nice. Oh yea...I used poplar, but I think that stuff will stick to anything.
Gary K.;)

[Brett Baldwin]

Unless there is something special about this particular batch of paint it should be opaque so I'd stick with your normal paintable woods. It would probably be worth your time to check with the finisher to make sure though.

[Richard Wolf]

I've used alot of milk paint on my chair building projects. Don't be upset after one coat, I have always needed two coats to achive good results. Works on all woods.

Richard

[Ron Hedrick]

Bill, thanks for the link.

[Jim Becker]

Poplar, Maple, Pine...knotty or not, depending on the intended look for the piece. I'd use poplar 'cause I have a lot of it and the knotty portions emulate pine quite nicely without the pitch and with (a little bit) more hardness.

[Rick Williams]

Might want to think about a seal coat of shellac. That's what I normally do when I use milk paint, particularly on pine.

[Steven Wilson]

Poplar, alder, maple, pine, really whatever you want. Make sure you talk with the person who will be doing the finish to make sure they are using real milk paint and not some "milk paint" color scheme with a normal paint. Anyhow, one thing that will telegraph through milk paint are glue lines (i.e. leg laminations). So, I would seal the entire piece with a coat of dewaxed shellac prior to applying the Milk Paint. How many coats of Milk Paint to apply depend on the look. One thin wash coat looks nice as well as multiple coats. My favorite Milk paint finishing schedules is

1) seal the project with dewaxed shellac
2) two coats of Milk Paint with the nibs nocked down with a grey pad
3) liberal coat of BLO (this makes the MP look great) rubbed in
4) top coat with Arm R Seal satin (one or two coats)

The resulting finish looks nice and is bulletproof.

[luc gendron]

I use milk paint all the time. In fact I consider it to be my specialty. You can see a few of my pieces on www.hardwareattic.ca (http://www.hardwareattic.ca). They posted them for me.

My choice wood is pine. I usually start with two coats of milk paint. Then I distress the piece. (If you don't distress, then sand lightly with 220grit) Then, depending on the age I want to give it, I will apply a stain (medium in colour, for example puritan pine or for a darker colour I'll use walnut from minwax). The stain penetrate the areas I've distressed and exposed the wood. Don't let it dry, just apply and wipe away as soon as possible. Let dry overnight. This stain also reacts with the milk paint and seals the paint, taking away the chalk like finish.

Next step, I apply two coats of waterbased polyurethane. After all that, I apply two lite coats of wax. My projects are well protected and the finish on them looks 100 years old with an awesome looking patina.

I've used this paint on other woods for example oak and maple, but I truly prefer the look on pine.

[Larry Fox]

I have used it on Poplar with good result. My favorite schedule is;

- Milk Paint (2-3 coats)
- dewaxed shellac
- distress if you wish
- glaze (I typically use Van Dyke Brown). Rag on, wipe off and let dry
- dewaxed shellac to seal all this in
- topcoat as you wish. USL or General Finishes Poly Acrylic have yielded good results for me.

[Dennis Peacock]

Wow...so many choices....well, at least I'm getting educated on milk paint. :)

[Bob Glenn]

I make Windsor chairs and finish them with milk paint. Windsors usually made with three different woods due to the different requirements of the chair's parts. Usually, I use maple for the legs, poplar for the seat and oak for the arm rail and spindles.

Since milk paint soaks into the wood when it is applied, I have found it adheres better to the poplar and oak, than it does to the maple parts.

Some chair makers use pine for the seats and have reported problems with pitch pockets bleeding through the paint.

I'd go with a softer wood for your project and stay away from maple or pine.

[glenn bradley]

I'd talk to the finisher and see what material his/her best results are on. Go teamwork.