Antique Texture Aluminum Finish.

Aluminum is an important metal in our lives. The metal offers many advantages that make it widely used for various purposes. It is durable, relatively inexpensive, soft, and easy to be handled. The aluminum is also widely used in the furniture industry. Aluminum is relatively easy to be cut, bend, forged, and formed to make furniture with an attractive appearance. Aluminum is also relatively easy to be finished compared with the other metal. It is less dense compared with copper or brass; it can receive and absorb the material finishing better than the steel, brass, or copper. Compared with the iron, aluminum has better properties since it won't get corrosion. We don't need the primer coat as the corrosion protection as finish for the iron surface. We can use the finishing materials that we normally use for the wood finishing. The stain and glaze for wood finishing can be applied to the aluminum together with nc or PU coating. But to give better performance, the special coatings for metals is recommended as the coating layer.

Now in this post, I want to share about the finishing process to make the antique texture for aluminum. The aluminum panel is textured to make the impression of an antique and special look; the application of glaze and pad stain are used to build the color and antique effect. To build the better film layer, we use the brass lacquer for the clear coat, a special clear coating for brass and copper. 

Here is the finishing process, step by step.

• The preparation of aluminum panel.

The aluminum is textured with special form; the panel was hammered with a special hammer to create the texture in special form. The specially skilled people is needed to make the texture.

The texture aluminum panel then needs to be washed and cleaned before layered with the finishing material. Wet a rag with acetone or paint thinner and wipe it to the aluminum surface to clean any grease, oil, or other dirt from the surface. Repeat the process several times to make sure the aluminum surface is clean from any dirt or grease.

• The coating application.

The clear coating application is needed as the first step before any stain and glaze application on the metal surface. The coating layer functions as the base and binder for the stain and glaze that will be applied. 

Apply a 1-layer coat of brass laquer by medium-wet spray to the overall surface. Let it dry for about 15 minutes.

• Glaze application.

This glaze is applied to form the color and to make the antique effect at the finish. The glaze will fill the texture to make the antique look and enhance the texture form of the panel.

Cut the glaze with thinner about 1:4, then spray it with medium wet or dry spray to the overall surface. Make sure we got a uniform coating. Let it dry for a few minutes and highlight the glaze layer with steelwool. If necessary, we can brush the glaze lightly to smooth the surface and make it more antique-looking. Avoid too thick layer of the glaze since it could lead to the crack and adhesion problem. Make sure the glaze layer is dry and go to the next coating application.

• Application of brass lacquer.

Brass lacquer is applied to provide the protection to the color and effects resulted by the glaze application.

Spray brass 1 coat of brass lacquer with medium wet spray to overall  surface evenly. Wait for about 15 minutes to make sure the coating layer is dry.

• Application the pad stain.

Pad stain is used to make additional colors and make more impression looked for the finish. Apply the pad stain by padding on the finish surface. 

Dampen a cloth and that pad it to the finish surface as needed. Highlight the stain with steel wool if necessary.

• Top coat application.

Brass lacquer is applied as the final coat. We also apply the brass lacquer for the previous step as the "sealer," but in this step the brass lacquer functions as the top coat. We use the same material for the sealer and top coat. But as the final coat, we need to make sure we use the brass lacquer with the right sheen. A good layer application is also needed to make the coating surface smooth and even. 

Use the low- or medium-sheen bras lacquer and spray it to the overall surface evenly. Let it dry and check the result to make sure we get a smooth and even surface. If necessary, we can repeat the top coat application to make a good film finish.