Acrylic over Tung oil poly mix?

[Pete Staehling]

Okay so I have a bunch of little turned Christmas tree ornaments (snowmen) that I originally intended to leave with a hybrid tung oil poly finish (equal parts tung oil, polyurethane varnish, mineral spirits hand rubbed in and buffed dry on the lathe). After having made a couple dozen in various wood species to give to friends, neighbors, and family we decided that it would be nice to paint the bodies white on some of the wood species (leaving the hats the natural color).

So my question is can I get by with painting them with craft store water based acrylic paint? If so what kind of prep do they need? Light sanding? Pre coating/priming with something? Shellac maybe?

Worst case I could figure out a way to chuck them up in the lathe and sand them bare, but they are pretty tiny and have the hang loops attached on the top so it would be a pain. At that point I might start thinking about just doing them over and I really do not want to go there. I suppose i could just ditch the darkest species ones and only use the light and medium colored ones.

This is a quick and dirty craft project, just meant to be a cute thing to hand out to friends and family sometimes with a card, a gift, or a tray of home made cookies, so perfection is not required, but they can't be completely ugly or have the paint fall off either.
snowman.jpg

[Jim Becker]

My suggestion is to try light abrasion first to see if the hobby acrylic adheres acceptably. (this assumes that the oil based finish is completely cured) If that's not working, hit them with a light coat of spray can wax-free shellac (Zinsser) to act as a barrier coat. It will add sheen, unfortunately, but you can get it back to satin if you prefer by applying a coat of water borne clear satin or matte from a spray can after applying the colors to restore the lower luster.

[Pete Staehling]

My suggestion is to try light abrasion first to see if the hobby acrylic adheres acceptably. (this assumes that the oil based finish is completely cured) If that's not working, hit them with a light coat of spray can wax-free shellac (Zinsser) to act as a barrier coat. It will add sheen, unfortunately, but you can get it back to satin if you prefer by applying a coat of water borne clear satin or matte from a spray can after applying the colors to restore the lower luster.

Thanks. Do you think that adhesion is the only concern? I wondered if there was much/any concern that there would be some incompatibility issue that might manifest itself over the months following application or whether I can safely judge the result pretty quickly.

[Edward Dyas]

I don't believe the acrylic paint would adhere very well. To be on the safe side I would coat them with Sealcoat first.

[Jim Becker]

Adhesion is "everything", Pete.

[Pete Staehling]

Thanks guys