Preparing To Paint

SPECIAL UPDATE, 9-10-14

Since proceeding to the painting of the carriage seat, I have come to a somewhat more informed decision about selecting a good primer. Basically, if I spend hours perfecting the surface that I am about to prime, it seems silly to apply a "high build primer" as I have here.  It's been pointed out to me that a high build primer is a good alternative to the micro-surface preparation that we are trying to do on a carriage, and is best suited for things like massive boat hulls, where that type of surface preparation is just a preposterous notion.  I believe that I have spent considerable extra hours, sanding back thick, high-solids primer, and if you continue to read my blog, as each piece of the carriage is prepared for paint, I will probably be relying more on Schwartz's good, hard, dark gray sanding primer.  I have learned a tremendous amount in the last few days.  I expect to learn and share much more as restoration progresses.



Eventually we get to the point where we have to say, "That's the last repair, let's get on with it, shall we?"  Having given the seat one final, thorough sanding, it's time to paint.

Reiterating the process, the old paint was stripped to bare wood and all repairs made, including new corner blocks.

"Missing" wood and small areas of dry rot were consolidated and built out with Abatron products.

Large grain and surface flaws were leveled with Pettit EZ-Fair fairing compound.

All wood surfaces sealed with Pettit EZ-Wood Sealer.

All surfaces sanded smooth with 220 grit dry sand paper.

Surfaces degreased with automotive wax/grease remover or solvent.

Surfaces wiped with tack rag just prior to priming.

And here is the seat in the paint shed, with a pretty sorry looking first coat of Pettit EZ-Prime High Build Primer  I wish I realized they made it in gray*!

After reading through my notes of my last restoration project, I decided that I would brush the primer on.  I had already decided to brush the top coats on.  Those notes convinced me that I do NOT know how to spray paint, and that this project was not the place to try to learn.  I do not use a spray gun frequently enough to be good at it, and if I do my surface preparation correctly, I always get a better result with a brush anyway.  There is just more elbow grease involved, getting the surface level for top coats.

*I would have added some black topcoat to make a gray primer, but the topcoat has silicone in it, which I feared might interfere with adhesion between primer and topcoat.  I don't know that, but why risk it?

Observations on EZ-Prime

I may sound like an advertisement for certain product lines, particularly Pettit Paints and Abatron restoration products.  The reason I like Pettit is because they make a FULL LINE of surface preparation materials that are compatible with their top coats. You don't have to go looking for products to do the job among various manufacturers.  Pettit products are for marine (harsh environment) applications, suitable for wood, metal, fiberglass substrates.  They are high quality, high gloss and durable, and you can use a brush.  There are lots of other manufacturers out there.  I'm just reporting what works for me.

Anyway, the EZ-Prime is LOADED with solids, both titanium dioxide and calcium carbonate.  It is designed to fill defects in the surface to which it is applied so that it can be sanded back smooth and level.  A less heavy-bodied sanding primer that I used on a previous project (shafts painted earlier in this blog) was too wimpy even after four brushed coats to sand with anything coarser than 400 grit, and even then, it was easy to cut right through to bare wood. There are pros and cons to such a heavy material, but the cons are just things that can't be avoided when you want the coverage that allows you to sand to a level surface.

Firstly, it wants to be put on in a fairly full coat, though not full enough to drip or sag.  It seems to level and cover a lot better when a good full coat is put on. I added two ounces of Penetrol to about 22 ounces of EZ-Prime (I had removed 10 oz from the quart to mix for spraying, when I thought I was going to spray) to help flow-out, but I don't think it really mattered.  The first coat went on as you see above.

The one important thing I would suggest is don't use a paint brush that you love.  I pretty much relegated my badger hair brush that I've been using throughout this blog, to applying primer only.  The reason is because I found it VERY hard to wash out all the solids from the brush.

After flowing lots of solvent through the brush there were still lots of tiny white particles stuck in the bristles under the ferrule which I can just bet would show up as dirt in the top coat, if this brush was used for top coating again.

One thing that I found which helped blast the particles out of the brush was this Preval sprayer filled with solvent and sprayed into the bristles.  I think you can get these sprayers at Home Depot now.  It helped blow the particles out of the bristles, but still, I have another badger hair brush that I'll use for top coat, and I'll retain the used brush for the prodigious amount of priming that remains to be done on the carriage.

Let the coats dry 24 hours before recoating. Don't mess with dry times. Do what the instructions say or you'll end up with a defective finish.

I am going to try for three coats of EZ-Prime, with light sanding between coats and wet sanding before top coating.  The label says two coats are sufficient, but the instructions are very basic, and since we're going for dazzle on the carriage paint job, we need to lay on enough material to be able to sand it back dead smooth without cutting through to bare wood (but not create a thick layer of primer to paint over, either!) .

9/1/14 Update

Like watching paint dry?  Here's your chance! :o)  Day two primer, still not enough coverage in some areas.








9/2/14 Update

Oh dear, this is getting really ugly!  Day three primer covered really well.  After drying, what I am doing here is brushing on a "guide coat" of extremely thin paint of a contrasting color.

Oh!  Look how it has settled into all the BRUSH MARKS!  That is the purpose of the guide coat.  I have to sand all that dark stuff away.  It will remain in the low places until I have sanded the surface dead flat.

THEN the seat will be ready to paint!





A Word about the Paint Brush

Throughout this blog I have been using a "badger hair" paint brush obtained from Jamestown Distributors.  I ruined it for top coating when I dipped it into the high-solids primer.  But it is now my primer brush and my second badger hair brush will be reserved for top coats.  Throughout the process this brush has been carefully cleaned and hung in a can of solvent, not touching any part of the can.

This will be the last priming I do for a very long time, so I am going to put the brush away.

First I am going to rinse it in solvent again very thoroughly, then I am going to work liquid dish soap into the bristles.  Then I will rinse it thoroughly in water, and wrap it in a sheet of paper, and lay it away where the bristles will not become distorted.  If I can find a "paint brush comb" I will use that too, to make sure the brush is in good working order for the next job.  If you look back in the blog you can see how I managed the paint brush through many coats of paint.