Paint Expert

[chris ma]

Those tips are great guys, off to Home Depot soon.
Thanks a ton...

[Schaef]

Chris, if you were simply wondering what to thin the primer with, I'd have two suggestions. First, you could ask the people at the place where you bought the primer, they should at least have a clue or something. Second, call the people who made the paint, they should be able to tell you in an instant what you want to know. (After all, they made the stuff!)

As to the Bob Flexner book, I think I have that one, and it should be good, another author to look for would be Jeff Jewitt, he's considered one of the best, and if you go to his home page, I hear he'll answer questions about finish as well! (http://www.homesteadfinishing.com/ )

Finally, Austin...

I've heard the same things about Birch plywood, I'm not sure because I like lighter woods and tend to oil the wood rather than stain. I can offer a couple of suggestions though. First, you can look for a wood conditioner to apply to the surface first, this'll partially seal the wood allowing an even stain. Second, you can use a gel stain instead of the standard can stuff. This comes in a powder or gel form and is mixed with either alcohol or water depending upon the type. The gel stains are a little harder to find, but you shouldn't need a conditioner with them.

Hope this helps everyone out!

[chris ma]

I have armed myself with Urethane, Turpentine, Varsol, Enamel, Actone, sand paper etc, made myself a small sanding block with all edges rounded, applied three layers of thin primer using a foam brush so far. Don't really like the result yet, some streaks appeared even though sanding in between layers. Only using 600 grit sand paper for now, will use finer once as it gets closer to the final layers.

Black paint next tonight, but I'll try using a small foam roller to experiment. I think roller gets a better even coverage than brushing. Given that has to be sanded anyway.

Actually I do have a electric powered spray gun (Wagner I think)from 18 months ago that I bought for painting the deck chairs with white oil primer and german solder gery. The spray gun is boxed up in the basement somewhere after used it only once. Didn't not really like it. Very hard to control, it spat occasionally and if I was not careful and tilt the gun too much it splatter lumps of paint if it sucks up air. Hard to spray on horizonal planes have to keep it upright all the time. Too powerful, maybe airbrush is better for the detailing kind of jobs. I heard it takes a while to master the use of airbrush, and it is also a rather expensive set up, air compressor and the likes.