Anyone using Ben Moore Alkyd SI?

[Alex Horvath]

Many years ago I did a major trim upgrade to my house and I could not get a finish I was happy with using a brush so I learned HVLP and sprayed the trim with Ben Moore Alkyd SI using mineral spirits as a thinner. It came out beyond expectations although I don't want to make it sound easy - one of the hardest things I ever did.

A few years ago I did some more trim with the alkyd and the results were a disaster. After spraying the mineral spirits seemed to come to the surface and when It finally dried there was almost no sheen. I tried other cans of mineral spirits thinking it might be bad mineral spirits but no luck. I was told it's likely a change in mineral spirits and/or the alkyd itself. I live in northern CA and now for most solvents they sell only substitutes whatever that is. Of course the Ben Moore retailer cannot tell you what to use for fear of VOC violations. The product is way to thick even for brushing out of the can.

There seems to be a lot more thinner/conditioners for alkyd paints now, I saw one from Rustoleum which even advertised that was it was a non-yellowing thinner (cant seem to find it now) but the SDS says it was simply xylene which you cannot get in CA anymore.

Zinsser has one also and i just noticed that Amazon has Rustoleum auto grade mineral spirits specifically for thinning.

I'll probably see if Amazon will ship the mineral spirits to me and try it but wondering what people are using for either spray or brushing.
The penetrol oil based conditioner product does not reduce viscosity in my experience.

Thanks

[John TenEyck]

Time to move on. I suggest you switch to waterborne paint. You will find a lot more options available to you in CA, you can thin it with water and/or Extender, if needed, cleanup is a breeze, overspray is not the PITA that it would be with OB paint, and drying time is in minutes not hours/days.

Half way in between is BM Advance, which is a waterborne alkyd paint. It takes a long time to dry, but everything else about it is great, although it still needs to be thinned (with water/Extender) to spray it through a typical HVLP gun. Not sure if it's available in CA, however. If not, you might consider Lenmar's Duralaq, which is a waterborne lacquer sold through Benjamin Moore. It can be tinted to any of BM's 3000 colors, has a very low viscosity that requires little/no thinning, sprays great, and dries very fast and hard. It's a bargain price wise, too.

John

[Edward Dyas]

Many years ago I did a major trim upgrade to my house and I could not get a finish I was happy with using a brush so I learned HVLP and sprayed the trim with Ben Moore Alkyd SI using mineral spirits as a thinner. It came out beyond expectations although I don't want to make it sound easy - one of the hardest things I ever did.

A few years ago I did some more trim with the alkyd and the results were a disaster. After spraying the mineral spirits seemed to come to the surface and when It finally dried there was almost no sheen. I tried other cans of mineral spirits thinking it might be bad mineral spirits but no luck. I was told it's likely a change in mineral spirits and/or the alkyd itself. I live in northern CA and now for most solvents they sell only substitutes whatever that is. Of course the Ben Moore retailer cannot tell you what to use for fear of VOC violations. The product is way to thick even for brushing out of the can.

There seems to be a lot more thinner/conditioners for alkyd paints now, I saw one from Rustoleum which even advertised that was it was a non-yellowing thinner (cant seem to find it now) but the SDS says it was simply xylene which you cannot get in CA anymore.

Zinsser has one also and i just noticed that Amazon has Rustoleum auto grade mineral spirits specifically for thinning.

I'll probably see if Amazon will ship the mineral spirits to me and try it but wondering what people are using for either spray or brushing.
The penetrol oil based conditioner product does not reduce viscosity in my experience.

Thanks

When you spray an alkyd it works better if you use naphtha to thin with and then thin as little as you can. It works better if the paint almost splatters as you are spraying it. It will level itself out before it dries.

Now being in California is a problem. Not only do you need the solvents to work an alkyd it needs to be real paint thinner. The low odor stuff isn't suitable to thin paint with. I've bought several different brands of the low odor thinner and the solvent seem to be incompatible and were disposed of. The finish curdles up like it resists mixing. Haven't seen anything like that since an employee tried to mix lacquer with kerosene. If you can't get a real thinner I would recommend finding a good latex trim paint.

Unless it's very hot you might not want to use penetrol at all. It's purpose is to slow the drying time down so you can brush the finish on better.

xylene is a solvent made for a synthetic enamel such as a fast dry enamel. It's not very good for an alkyd. It's a slower drying solvent than the toluene you use in cooler weather.

[Jared Sankovich]

Time to move on. I suggest you switch to waterborne paint. You will find a lot more options available to you in CA, you can thin it with water and/or Extender, if needed, cleanup is a breeze, overspray is not the PITA that it would be with OB paint, and drying time is in minutes not hours/days.

Half way in between is BM Advance, which is a waterborne alkyd paint. It takes a long time to dry, but everything else about it is great, although it still needs to be thinned (with water/Extender) to spray it through a typical HVLP gun. Not sure if it's available in CA, however. If not, you might consider Lenmar's Duralaq, which is a waterborne lacquer sold through Benjamin Moore. It can be tinted to any of BM's 3000 colors, has a very low viscosity that requires little/no thinning, sprays great, and dries very fast and hard. It's a bargain price wise, too.

John

Im curious how you like the wb duralaq? Ive been exclusively using the solvent ultralaq and duralaq for a few years and have great results but occupied structures cause some problems..

Imho BM Advance is just too slow to cure for anything but brushing on trim

[John TenEyck]

Im curious how you like the wb duralaq? Ive been exclusively using the solvent ultralaq and duralaq for a few years and have great results but occupied structures cause some problems..

Imho BM Advance is just too slow to cure for anything but brushing on trim

I like Duralaq WB a lot. Sprays great, self levels without orange peel, dries fast and hard. It's not as chemically durable as GF'S Enduro Clear Poly, however, so I only use it where that's not a concern . I have not tried their Megavar WB yet, which should be more chemically durable. If that's a concern you may want to look into that product first.

John

One more thing. The Undercoater primer used under Duralaq WB white or custom colors sprays and works great and is incredibly cheap. The White Duralaq WB also sprays great and gives a very uniform coating with consistent sheen.

[Jared Sankovich]

One more thing. The Undercoater primer used under Duralaq WB white or custom colors sprays and works great and is incredibly cheap. The White Duralaq WB also sprays great and gives a very uniform coating with consistent sheen.

I feel the same way about the duralaq solvent undercoater. Its under $25/gal and is fantastic stuff.

[Jamie Buxton]

Yeah, paint thinner in CA now is good only for cleaning brushes. However the good stuff is still sold in Oregon. Whenever a friend is driving north, I get them to bring me back a quart. Nevada might be a good source too.