How many of you paint your projects?

[email protected] (Larry Bud) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I've made perhaps 6 or 7 quality items since I've started in this God
> forsaken hobby a year ago, and I enjoy the natural look of wood. In
> fact, the only stain I ever used was a minwax "natural" color, and, by
> name, it looked quite natural, not chaning the darkness of the wood
> much (just the grain).
>
> How many of you paint your projects, why was it painted (for
> durability, looks, etc), and what wood do you use when you are going
> to paint something?

I won't make any piece of furniture,cabinet, to paint,if a client
wants it painted I'll make it but sell it bare wood I don't want to
see it finished with paint,,,,,paint does have it's place in my shop
and it's on the walls and on my outside signs,,,,

>> "Larry Bud" <[email protected]> wrote:

>> How many of you paint your projects, why was it painted (for
>> durability, looks, etc), and what wood do you use when you are going
>> to paint something?

I've painted a project or three, sure. The "Rock Chucker Mark IV" catapult
thingie is painted candy apple red. I have some simple shelves in the
bathroom knocked together out of random scraps and painted with 88-cent
Wal-Mart white. I've painted a few utility shelves black. Helping
Hands(tm) card holders are painted if I make them out of cheap wood.

When I was making everything out of poplar, I typically stained it a walnut
color. Now I make everything out of walnut, plus a few other species. I
haven't stained anything for several projects now, and I like it that way.
Working with contrasting woods that are already the color I'm after is
expensive, but worth it to me.

So in short, I only paint utilitarian projects, or toys.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

On 2 Jan 2004 07:35:15 -0800, [email protected] (Larry Bud)
wrote:

>I've made perhaps 6 or 7 quality items since I've started in this God
>forsaken hobby a year ago, and I enjoy the natural look of wood. In
>fact, the only stain I ever used was a minwax "natural" color, and, by
>name, it looked quite natural, not chaning the darkness of the wood
>much (just the grain).
>
>How many of you paint your projects, why was it painted (for
>durability, looks, etc), and what wood do you use when you are going
>to paint something?

I have several painted pieces. I build Shaker style furniture and
many pieces are painted. Paint is inexpensive, easy to apply, and
protects the wood. Most painted pieces are pine. I also have painted
ply bookcases that match the carpeting color.

Jim K wrote:

> I haven't painted anything I've made from walnut or oak.

That's good, 'cause we'd have to track you down and try you for crimes
against nature if you ever did. :)

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

Fri, Jan 2, 2004, 7:35am (EST-3) [email protected] (Larry=A0Bud)
says:
<snip> the only stain I ever used was a minwax "natural" color, and, by
name, it looked quite natural, not chaning the darkness of the wood much
(just the grain).

That always intrigues me, when I hear something like that. Usually
the first thought I have is, "natural what?". If it's a stain, it
can't be too natural. I've been experimenting with tea as a stain,
that's "natural", and I like the looks.

How many of you paint your projects, why was it painted (for durability,
looks, etc), and what wood do you use when you are going to paint
something?

I paint some, some not. For durability? No, you paint a building,
lawn furniture, or a boat, for durability. I paint for looks. Tiki,
corporate iggle Wizard banks, toy box, etc. Shop stands, and such,
painted to add some brightness to the shop, either yellow, or white.
Tools are painted bright yellow. I wouldn't paint any wood I've paid
good money for, but most free wood, pallet wood, plywood, I have no prob
in painting, if the project calls for it.

And, now that I think about it, I don't know if I've painted any
furniture I've made, except for the shop stuff. My dau-in-law would
like a couple of shelves, painted white. I think that would be the
first furniture project I've ever painted. I'm just not much for
painted furniture, altho I do like some - depends mostly on what it is,
and where it is - bathroom and kitchen, I would say, painted stuff seems
more appropriate in both. The dau-in-law wants the shelves for the
kitchen, so, yeah, I think that'd look better than "natural" wood.

Now you. Why do you ask?

JOAT
Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of
enthusiasm.
- Sir Winston Churchill

Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT
Web Page Update 2 Jan 2004.
Some tunes I like.
http://community-2.webtv.net/Jakofalltrades/SOMETUNESILIKE/

I just finished 3 benches for Christmas presents. I painted them
white. I used a Latex and I don't have spray equipment so I had to
roll/brush it on. I hated that. The weird thing is, the guy at the
store said I should use Latex because it's so much easier than enamel
(oil). Having done the 3 projects with Latex I'll probably never use
it again. Oh, it turned out pretty nice, got the approval of SWMBO
anyway -- that's usually a good indicator. However, having used
stains and finishes that all need special cleanup (and I don't
consider that much work to be honest) I think I'd try enamel in the
future. I've heard you can sand it and rub it out a bit better (you
can't at all with Latex).

I also want to try milk paints. Except I don't know what I'd try it
on, haven't had a need for something like that yet.

Mike

[email protected] (Larry Bud) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

[snip]

> How many of you paint your projects, why was it painted (for
> durability, looks, etc), and what wood do you use when you are going
> to paint something?

looks like ten or twelve, thereabouts.

Only to cover up the look of Cherry. Especially if I had to *Spackle*
up some loose joints.
mahalo,
jo4hn

Larry Bud wrote:
[snip]> How many of you paint your projects, why was it painted (for
> durability, looks, etc), and what wood do you use when you are going
> to paint something?

--
"Toller" <[email protected]> wrote in message

> What does natural stain do? It seems like an oxymoron.
> I asked Minwax that same question and they gave me some BS answer.

It enriches the makers.

On some woods it will help pop the grain a bit, but no better than using
BLO. It may be quicker to cure than using BLO if you are going to top coat
it.

I have limited experince using it, and I intend to keep it that way.
Ed
[email protected]
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome

Well Put Jay Painting is another art form and furniture painting is in a
league by itself.
I do some Faux Painting on some peices.]some for me and some for my
customers
I'll post a pic of my Kitchen table ABPW
George
"Jay Windley" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Most of my projects are things I do for myself, and are intended for
> specific settings and thus to harmonize with a specific set of
surroundings.
> If that suggests a color that is best achieved with paint, I make that
> decision in the design step. And so for those projects I choose wood such
> as poplar that takes paint well. I've never painted over wood that I
> originally chose to have a transparent finish. My philosophy is that any
> wood grain is worth looking at.
>
> That said, I have seen some attractive work in which some portions of the
> wood are painted and others left with the grain intentionally exposed.
And
> I did do a lamp for a friend that was painted black, but made of very
> open-grained oak so that the pores in the grain were still visible and
> evident only as texture in the resulting surface. I was pleased with it,
> and so was the friend, but this is not a method of finishing that I plan
to
> use extensively.
>
> --Jay
>

"Larry Bud" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> How many of you paint your projects, why was it painted (for
> durability, looks, etc), and what wood do you use when you are going
> to paint something?

I've made a few small pieces from pine or another soft wood (unknown
species) that I have that looks rather mediocre at best. I'm talking about
doll sized stuff for the granddaughters, not real furniture.

I'll stain pine to make it harmonize with other decor. Everything else gets
a clear or oil finish.

Ed
[email protected]
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome

> fact, the only stain I ever used was a minwax "natural" color, and, by
> name, it looked quite natural, not chaning the darkness of the wood
> much (just the grain).
>
What does natural stain do? It seems like an oxymoron.
I asked Minwax that same question and they gave me some BS answer.

I painted a PlayStation stand I made my son out of some pretty awful scrap.

Most of my projects are things I do for myself, and are intended for
specific settings and thus to harmonize with a specific set of surroundings.
If that suggests a color that is best achieved with paint, I make that
decision in the design step. And so for those projects I choose wood such
as poplar that takes paint well. I've never painted over wood that I
originally chose to have a transparent finish. My philosophy is that any
wood grain is worth looking at.

That said, I have seen some attractive work in which some portions of the
wood are painted and others left with the grain intentionally exposed. And
I did do a lamp for a friend that was painted black, but made of very
open-grained oak so that the pores in the grain were still visible and
evident only as texture in the resulting surface. I was pleased with it,
and so was the friend, but this is not a method of finishing that I plan to
use extensively.

--Jay

Larry Bud wrote:

> I've made perhaps 6 or 7 quality items since I've started in this God
> forsaken hobby a year ago, and I enjoy the natural look of wood. In
> fact, the only stain I ever used was a minwax "natural" color, and, by
> name, it looked quite natural, not chaning the darkness of the wood
> much (just the grain).
>
> How many of you paint your projects, why was it painted (for
> durability, looks, etc), and what wood do you use when you are going
> to paint something?
I made a tablesaw cabinet out of various scrap wood I had laying around
and painted it a beautiful industrial gray. Put several coats on it to
make it ding-resistant. Now it matches the lathes and looks very
shop-worthy.

--
Hitch

-Remove the NOSPAM from my address and you've got SPAM!-

> .... why was it painted ..... and what wood do you use when you are going
to paint something?

1) Windsor chairs --- traditionally, they're always painted. Windsors are
made from several species (poplar seats, hard maple turnings, and red oak
arms, backs, and spindles) whose varying grains would be distracting. Dunbar
says that the paint emphasizes the sculptural form of the chair. I give mine
two coats of two different colors of milk paint, and followed by rubbing in
an application of warm linseed oil.

2) I've "polychromed" (museum curator lingo for painting) pieces made from
yellow pine, white pine and poplar. I painted a hunt board of yellow pine
with poplar legs. I made a faux mahogany with a purplish paint and streaked
with Minwax Jacobean stain that simulated wood grain. I've done several
armoires and cupboards from yellow pine. One, a pewter cupboard, I finished
with barn red milk paint and linseed oil. Most are painted several
colors --- raised panels one color, molding and base another, and the body
another color. Some of these are "blotched" with stain to tone down any
garishness.

3) I make working decoys -- both ice fishing and wildfowl. The fish are
usually sugar pine or basswood. The birds are mostly pine or white cedar
bodies (some tupelo gum) with pine heads. I coat these with gesso and paint
them.

Joel

Right now I am primarily doing woodturning and I will occasionally paint
(stain) a piece if the wood is too boring. ie lack of figure or colour,
otherwise I will either spray laquer or satin urethane waterbased.
"Larry Bud" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I've made perhaps 6 or 7 quality items since I've started in this God
> forsaken hobby a year ago, and I enjoy the natural look of wood. In
> fact, the only stain I ever used was a minwax "natural" color, and, by
> name, it looked quite natural, not chaning the darkness of the wood
> much (just the grain).
>
> How many of you paint your projects, why was it painted (for
> durability, looks, etc), and what wood do you use when you are going
> to paint something?

On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 13:57:54 GMT, Jeff Cochran <[email protected]>
wrote:

>On 2 Jan 2004 07:35:15 -0800, [email protected] (Larry Bud)
>wrote:
>
>>I've made perhaps 6 or 7 quality items since I've started in this God
>>forsaken hobby a year ago, and I enjoy the natural look of wood. In
>>fact, the only stain I ever used was a minwax "natural" color, and, by
>>name, it looked quite natural, not chaning the darkness of the wood
>>much (just the grain).
>>
>>How many of you paint your projects, why was it painted (for
>>durability, looks, etc), and what wood do you use when you are going
>>to paint something?
>
>A fair number of my projects are painted. That also means I use
>poplar, plywood and MDF a lot more than oak, cherry or other finer
>woods. I also tend to use pine and whitewash (or color wash) a fair
>amount, the pine is preferable to poplar because of the more
>pronounced grain that shows through a whitewash.
>
>Very rarely I'll lacquer a piece, and usually it's a latex primer and
>paint, though on occasion I'll use oil base primer and latex paint.
>Outdoor pieces for example.
>
>One major reason is region of the country, I'm in SW Florida where the
>style is beach/Caribbean/Floridian/tropical and "heavy" wood tones
>don't fit in. Even when I do a non-painted piece, I'm most likely to
>use a cypress or maple over an oak/cherry/mahogany look.
>
>Jeff

Sounds like most of my projects. I'm in Tampa and as you note, the
look of natural wood just doesn't work well with the "Florida style".
Most of my stuff is made of poplar, MDF, plywood, and for outdoor
pieces, pressure treated. I build it and SWMBO paints it. I once made
some hand mirrors out of hard maple as gifts, and they got painted to
match the recipients decor.

-------

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"
- Arthur C Clarke

I often paint stuff when it's going to be used in rough conditions. I
made some platforms for my washer, drier and dehumidifier that sit in
the basement and I painted them. Also painted my workbenches (yes, I
know, but they have a hardboard top). Stands for my grinders are
painted as well. I've made a few little containers (not really boxes)
of MDF as well as some of boxes using OSB that have been painted.

For the workshop stuff, I went to Sears and checked out their paint
clearance area. I picked up some high-quality outdoor paint in sort of
a green for $5 a gallon.

I haven't painted anything I've made from walnut or oak.

>> Larry Bud wrote:
>>
>> > I've made perhaps 6 or 7 quality items since I've started in this God
>> > forsaken hobby a year ago, and I enjoy the natural look of wood. In
>> > fact, the only stain I ever used was a minwax "natural" color, and, by
>> > name, it looked quite natural, not chaning the darkness of the wood
>> > much (just the grain).
>> >
>> > How many of you paint your projects, why was it painted (for
>> > durability, looks, etc), and what wood do you use when you are going
>> > to paint something?

Larry,

Just finishing up a loft bed for my son. Painted glossy green over poplar,
with varnished maple trim and ladder rungs. Looks good.

Generally, I choose project materials based on the look I'm thinking of.
This normally results in only clear (or nearly clear) finishes - last
project was two bedside tables - Maple and Walnut with a thin amber shellac
seal coat and WB poly for water resistance. No stain on my projects.

Ian

"Larry Bud" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I've made perhaps 6 or 7 quality items since I've started in this God
> forsaken hobby a year ago, and I enjoy the natural look of wood. In
> fact, the only stain I ever used was a minwax "natural" color, and, by
> name, it looked quite natural, not chaning the darkness of the wood
> much (just the grain).
>
> How many of you paint your projects, why was it painted (for
> durability, looks, etc), and what wood do you use when you are going
> to paint something?

Larry,
Built a Mobile Router Table. Combined ideas from several different 'plans'.
MDF 'carcase', 'Hem-Fir' scraps for interior 'cleats', Poplar for 'kick
panel', and a sawn up kitchen table top for the 3 inch 'top' {wood-grain
Formica covered}.

Painted exterior a 'Sky' blue, interior White, and 'kick panel' with
PolyShield 'Bombay Mahogany'. Oddly enough, that's the same combination I
used on a 'Boat' flower box . . . made one for Joanne and another for the
Club 'auction' .

Regards,
Ron Magen
Backyard Boatshop

"Larry Bud" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I've made perhaps 6 or 7 quality items since I've started in this God
> forsaken hobby a year ago, and I enjoy the natural look of wood. In
> fact, the only stain I ever used was a minwax "natural" color, and, by
> name, it looked quite natural, not chaning the darkness of the wood
> much (just the grain).
>
> How many of you paint your projects, why was it painted (for
> durability, looks, etc), and what wood do you use when you are going
> to paint something?

On 2 Jan 2004 07:35:15 -0800, [email protected] (Larry Bud)
wrote:

>I've made perhaps 6 or 7 quality items since I've started in this God
>forsaken hobby a year ago, and I enjoy the natural look of wood. In
>fact, the only stain I ever used was a minwax "natural" color, and, by
>name, it looked quite natural, not chaning the darkness of the wood
>much (just the grain).
>
>How many of you paint your projects, why was it painted (for
>durability, looks, etc), and what wood do you use when you are going
>to paint something?

A fair number of my projects are painted. That also means I use
poplar, plywood and MDF a lot more than oak, cherry or other finer
woods. I also tend to use pine and whitewash (or color wash) a fair
amount, the pine is preferable to poplar because of the more
pronounced grain that shows through a whitewash.

Very rarely I'll lacquer a piece, and usually it's a latex primer and
paint, though on occasion I'll use oil base primer and latex paint.
Outdoor pieces for example.

One major reason is region of the country, I'm in SW Florida where the
style is beach/Caribbean/Floridian/tropical and "heavy" wood tones
don't fit in. Even when I do a non-painted piece, I'm most likely to
use a cypress or maple over an oak/cherry/mahogany look.

Jeff

"Hitch" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Larry Bud wrote:
>
> > I've made perhaps 6 or 7 quality items since I've started in this God
> > forsaken hobby a year ago, and I enjoy the natural look of wood. In
> > fact, the only stain I ever used was a minwax "natural" color, and, by
> > name, it looked quite natural, not chaning the darkness of the wood
> > much (just the grain).
> >
> > How many of you paint your projects, why was it painted (for
> > durability, looks, etc), and what wood do you use when you are going
> > to paint something?
> I made a tablesaw cabinet out of various scrap wood I had laying around
> and painted it a beautiful industrial gray. Put several coats on it to
> make it ding-resistant. Now it matches the lathes and looks very
> shop-worthy.
>
> --
> Hitch
>

What kind of paint and application method did you use. Were you trying to
simulate a "metal cabinet" look?

I am just finishing a multi-purpose workbench in my garage which I made
"cabinet style" and painted to simulate the traditional red color of a
mechanic's tool chest. This was definitely experimental, and I used an
interesting Rustoleum spray paint product over MDF. The paint is designed to
give a "hammered" finish which looks good and is much more forgiving of poor
application technique. It came out "pretty good", and could be much better
except if I was willing to do the painting in the garage. I started there,
but stopped as soon as I realized how much the overspray was spreading over
the ENTIRE 3 car garage. So, I resigned myself to painting the rest outside
which is very difficult because the slightest breeze upsets the spray
pattern out of the can. It's not the way to go if you have to paint
outdoors. Otherwise, it works great and is easy to recoat as needed to get
the desired finished because the hammered look is naturally uneven.

The next project is a matching bank of cabintets overhead. I'm thinking of
an electric paint sprayer for this project, with the expectation that I'll
sand and repaint the workbench to match. I used such a painter when I was a
kid, and I seem to recall that it's much easier to get the paint on the work
and the overspray is well contained, but I would be way off base here. I
need to do some more research on this.

I'd love to see pictures of your tablesaw cabinet. I'll share photos of my
project once it's completed.

Tom