Paint finish for the wood furniture

Paint finish or solid color finish or opaque color finish is the finishing when the finishing layer totally cover of the underneath color. The paint is the finishing material in the liquid and thick form finishing material that has specific color. The paint application in the wood will produce an opaque color or solid color that cover the wood base color. In this finish, the wood base color is totally covered and blocked by the paint, and the finishing color is fully determined  by the color of the finishing material.

The finishing process of paint finish is similar with the finishing to the transparent finish, but of course with different material. You need the "paint" material to make the paint finish. If the transparent finish you want to show the wood beauty, but in the wood paint finish you have to close and cover the character of the wood.

 high gloss white paint finish

 

The finishing process to make the paint finish to the wood furniture.

• Preparation on unfinished wood.

Every wood finishing process must be started with the good preparation to the unfinished wood. The wood surfaces must be sanded properly to obtain a flat and smooth surface. Choose the suitable wood if possible. The wood with less and shallow pores and grains such as: maple, ash, jabon, etc, are the better choice to make the paint finish. The wood with large pores and grain such as: oak, mindi, mahogany, teak, are not good choice. The wood with big pores and grains need to be filled to produce even and smooth paint finish.
Paint finish does not require wood with beautiful grain and base color, since the final finishing color and looked is determined by the color of the paint. The wood with varied color base can be used as long as it has smooth and even surface.

But, it is better you avoid the paint finish to the oily wood such as: teakwood, pine, cocobolo, rosewood, etc. The oil from the wood will emerge and ruin the finishing color.

• Paint application.

There are many types of paint can be used to do the paint finish. The paint that most widely used for wood finishing are: base coat paint, oil paint and water based paint. 
Water based paint is also known as the latex paint is a water-based finishing materials. The material can produce a thick layer of paint finish with wide range color choices. But he needs a relatively long drying time. The drying is highly affected by the weather conditions at the time application time. In the hot air and low humidity, the drying process can occur quickly, but when the day is cold and humid the drying will take long time.
Oil paint is oil-based finishing materials. It available in many color and with brighter color. This material is usually diluted with mineral spirits or naphtha. This material is not sensitive to the weather but it also needs long drying time.
Base coat is the thinner base paint. This material is made from mixture of organic pigments and clear coat. This material is dry quickly and can be sanded easily. It is the coating that is designed to make paint finish. This material is available in various types, depending to the type of binder used. The NC base coat and PU base coat are the most used. The other type’s base coat such as: AC, Precat or UV base coat also available.
All paint material need to be applied correctly to get the best result. The application by spray is the best option to the wood furniture finish. The spray application will produce the smooth and even paint finish. The other application technique such as: rolled or brushed can be used if the texture paint finish is needed.
Almost all type of spray gun can be used to spray paint. The air spray gun, airless, HVLP or LVLP spray gun can produce a good coating with the proper adjustment and spray techniques. Whatever type of the paint is used, he used should be adjusted according to the spray specification to produce a perfect coating. The paint usually needs to be diluted to reduce its viscosity according to the desired viscosity of the spray gun.
The viscosity around 14 second (measured with NK 2 cup) is usually required to make perfect atomization. The HVLP spray gun work at lower viscosity (about 12-13 second). While the air spray and airless spray gun can operate at a higher viscosity, but the recommended paint viscosity is in the number about 14 second. 
Spray the paint 2 layer wet coat evenly to the overall surface and wait until the paint is dry. The drying time will vary depending on the type of paint used. The NC-base coat usually need about 15 minutes to 30 minutes to dry, while the PU base coat may need 1 hour drying time. The drying time for water based paint depends to the air humidity. In dry air condition, the paint can dry for about 30 minutes or even less, but if the room is cold and humid then the longer drying time is needed. If thick layer paint is layered in the humid and cold air, then we may need for 1 day to let the paint to dry.

sanding the white paint

• Sanding the paint.

Once the first paint layer is dry, usually a rough surface is resulted. The first coat also will display all the wood defects such as: cracks, dents, holes, unevenness, etc. To produce a flat finish we need to sand the paint layer until a smooth and even surface is obtained. You have to fix all the defects to make good finishing result. The cracks, gaps, dents should be filled with putty.  A proper sanding is required to produce the smooth and even surface. The stearate sandpaper with grade # 240 or # 280 to sand the paint surface. Then you need to apply with another layer of paint. We need few layers of paint to make a smooth surface and even color. Usually 2 or 3 layer is needed.

• Clear coating applications.

After the color of the finishing is obtained, then we need to coat the paint layer with clear coat. We can apply sealer then top coat, or just apply the top coat without any sealer. The sealer layer will help to build more thick film, but the thick sealer layer will affect the finish color. For the white paint finish, the color of the film layer may change the color little bit.

Use the top coat and sealer which is compatible with the paint. The same type top coat and paint is highly recommended since it will give the best interface. If the top coat or sealer with different type are used, then it must be ensured that they completely fit with the paint underneath. See our previous article: compatibility of coating application