Twin Twin Beds

[pkinneb]

They turned out great!

 

[JosephThomas]

7 hours ago, Denette said:

Thanks for the kind words!  Up close it's a little less pretty though.  I'm not sure what went wrong that caused it.  Lots of big globs of paint splattering out rather than a fine mist like I expected.  I've only used my HVLP for oil-based finishes before, and those were a huge pain (and waste of mineral spirits) to clean out of the sprayer.  This time I  opted for latex paint because it would be easier to clean up.  The paint is super thick, so I cut it roughly 2/3 paint to 1/3 water after it seemed to glop up the HVLP when I tested it, but to be honest it still wasn't super fine.  I don't want to cut it too far with water, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what I'm doing.  I assumed that it'd spray a super-fine mist like a spray paint can, but instead it sprays in a pattern not unlike the splatter from popping a wet towel.  I tried turning my HVLP speed all the way up and all the way down, and that didn't seem to help...  

 

I really hate paint.

I do too, lol. 

Someone here (I think @wdwerker ) rec'd this latext paint additive (or similar) and I saved a link to this one at the borg, you'll probably have better luck with that compared to water...honestly thinning it with water requires mixing really well with a drill-powered mixer in my experience (I was painting walls, not furniture, but still).

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Flood-Floetrol-1-qt-Clear-Latex-Paint-Additive-FLD6-04/100198078?MERCH=REC-_-rv_nav_plp_rr-_-NA-_-100198078-_-N

Nice job though...sand down the defects, fill where necessary, give it another light coat.

[Denette]

Good suggestions all around! Picked up some floetrol for latex, a stirrer for my drill, and a few filter cones to boot.

Now riddle me this, WoodTalk community. I went to sand the first coat smooth with some 220 grit sandpaper in my ROS. At first things were good, things went from this:

To this:

Admittedly removing more paint than I wanted to, but it's baby-butt smooth. I figure the floetrol will help make the next coats go a little farther and need less sanding.

But the next several spots I tried to sand globes up on me like so:

It's not easy to sand down, and to really get things perfectly smooth when these globs start to form I'd have to take the whole spot back to bare wood. Is this problem an indication, as I suspect, that the paint is dry only on the surface and not beneath? The first coat was pretty thick.

[treeslayer]

i think you are correct in thinking that the paint is not dry, especially where the globs are from the previous coat. i would scrape, gently, any obvious thick spots or globs and wait till its all perfectly dry.

[Tpt life]

Globs will happen with friction on a loaded pad as well. Lighten up and sand by hand. Latex does not like the friction. 

[Denette]

Globs will happen with friction on a loaded pad as well. Lighten up and sand by hand. Latex does not like the friction. 

Interesting, I hadn't considered that. I'll try lowering the speed on my ROS first, I'm out of everything but 5" disc sandpaper at the moment.

[wdwerker]

Plenty of drying time, low speed or by hand, and clean your sandpaper often with a crepe rubber block or a gray abrasive pad. As soon as paint starts to load up the sandpaper it's going to do it faster and faster. I prefer water bourne finishes to latex they dry harder and cure faster, but they tend to cost more too. If your going to use latex use satin or semi gloss trim paint, not wall paint.

[Coop]

2 minutes ago, wdwerker said:

 If your going to use latex use satin or semi gloss trim paint, not wall paint.

Didn't know there was a difference. Thanks Steve!

[wdwerker]

Trim paint dries to a harder surface. You might find primer easier to sand for the first coat.

[wtnhighlander]

I ran across this today:

Maybe not helpful for your spraying woes, but it does seem like a good way to improve the gloss and durability of latex.

[Tpt life]

FWIW, the first pic makes it look like you could have dramatically reduced the sanding need by pre-raising the grain. 

[Denette]

I took a combination of advice from folks here and elsewhere on the web, and I'm now proud to say bed number one is (99%) painted! Once the coat I just applied dries I've got a handful of small spots to touch up with a paint brush, but the major work is finished. I'm so happy with the results! They may not be perfect, but it's all a learning process, and I learned loads on this project!

 

 

I went ahead and finished the back of the headboards as well as the front. I left it bare wood where the headboard connects to the base.

 

 

I'm not sure whether to call this error on my part or simply pass it off as texture. The whole bed has this general appearance, so at least it's consistent! This is one of the few spots that I'm not super jazzed about, though.

 

 

Snazzy headboard detail shot!

 

 

Pizzazzy footboard detail shot!

 

 

Jazzy front shot!

 

 

The final mix I used was:

%50 Sherwin Williams Ovation Semi-Gloss latex paint

%40 Minwax Polyacrylic Water-based Polyurethane (for durability and thinness)

%10 (give or take) Floetrol Latex Paint Thinner (to make things settle like oil paint)

 

I'll post a detailed close-up  of the paint's dry appearance tomorrow.  All the photos above are of it wet immediately after application, so we will see how much things level out!

I'm nearing the end of this one, guys!  I almost have my garage back!!!!  Then - Roubo time!  Thanks for coming along for the ride and offering advice and encouragement!  This community is really great.  Y'all are a really fantastic bunch of people and I'm thankful for you.

[Chet]

Looks like they are coming out pretty nice.

[treeslayer]

always great to see the end in sight! very nice work, well done sir.

[mat60]

All your work is paying off.   Nice man.

[Denette]

Well, overall I'm happy with the finish, though the final texture surprised me a bit! The spot I posted a photo of earlier, where there was too much finish, leveled beautifully:

The surprise is that somehow the paint/poly/floetrol mix ended up looking very pleasantly textured, not unlike a stucco wall treatment but much finer. I am actually pretty pumped about it, I think it looks great and does a nice job of obscuring imperfections as well. Not sure if this is actually user error or some odd reaction from adding those three together in one sprayer, but I like it.

After it all dried, I took the headboard off. I'm spraying the bare wood with some rattlecan poly I had around the shop just to protect it from moisture, but not planning on adding anything else to it. I'm afraid the paint's thickness or latex' tendency to flake off would cause problems.

Anyone have an opinion on whether the bed's underside should receive any treatment at all? Once it goes down the only way the underside is getting wet is if a hurricane hits (unlikely in central AR) or a water main explodes, I guess.

Any thoughts on my plans for treating these last two bits?

[Anna S]

These look great, especially to see it go from Sketchup to actual furniture.  I think the finish looks good.  I'd be afraid to try to do anything to the bottom now for fear that it would screw up the finish on the top that looks so even.  Maybe hand paint the bottom if you really wanted to, or clear coat the whole thing?

[wtnhighlander]

You can leave it, or not. Lots of antique furniture was never finished on the unseen surfaces.

Having said that, my wife is bothered by the smell if raw wood, so all my projects get a complete coating.

[Tpt life]

I get nervous leaving solid wood coated on only one side. I have seen too many things warp. I prefer something over nothing. Often it is just shellac or a single coat of finish. I never go through the entire schedule. 

[Denette]

I get nervous leaving solid wood coated on only one side. I have seen too many things warp. I prefer something over nothing. Often it is just shellac or a single coat of finish. I never go through the entire schedule. 

Good point! It's a good thing the underside is almost all plywood. The underside of the face frame isn't painted, but it's glued & nailed so well to the support piece that runs behind it that I doubt the frame could go anywhere. The only real solid wood I'd leave exposed is on the inside of the legs of the headboard, which will all be bolted. Think it'll still be a movement risk if it is never exposed to air and bolted in place? The only time it'll ever get air is during moves when you take the headboard off.

[shaneymack]

You did a great job ! Nice beds!!

[Tpt life]

21 minutes ago, Denette said:

Good point! It's a good thing the underside is almost all plywood. The underside of the face frame isn't painted, but it's glued & nailed so well to the support piece that runs behind it that I doubt the frame could go anywhere. The only real solid wood I'd leave exposed is on the inside of the legs of the headboard, which will all be bolted. Think it'll still be a movement risk if it is never exposed to air and bolted in place? The only time it'll ever get air is during moves when you take the headboard off.

You've got two conflicting ideas here and I won't push either very hard. I have old pieces with unbalanced coverage. Whether lost voodoo, virgin old growth, or undetectable other sealants they still seem ok. I would not panic. My preference to single coat is just born of my experience with repair of mid-level furniture. I find a fair amount of warped panels with single sided coverage. I would not panic to cover what you describe. 

[Denette]

I have made some very good progress over the last several days and got the first bed 100% done. After having significant problems with the grain raising after the first coat of paint on the first bed, I decided that for the second one I would look up pre-finish grain raising techniques. I found a pretty good video from the woodworkers Guild of America, and the second bed is currently sitting on the sawhorses that I had used to finish the first one. I put water in my airless HVLP sprayer. Bed number two is currently a tad damp and otherwise unfinished. Later tonight I plan to go out and, once it is dry, sand down the raised grain and apply the first coat of paint. Hopefully this one will paint up a bit more quickly since I won't have to sand through most of the first coat of paint.

[wtnhighlander]

I don't recall if it was mentioned, but a wash coat of shellac provides a great base for paint, and prevents further raised grain. Its also a bit easier to sand smooth. The smoother the surface, the better your paint will look.

[Denette]

I don't recall if it was mentioned, but a wash coat of shellac provides a great base for paint, and prevents further raised grain. Its also a bit easier to sand smooth. The smoother the surface, the better your paint will look.

I had thought of that and would have done it if bed #2 hadn't already gotten a bit of overspray from the first bed during the very first coat, so its grain was already somewhat raised. On a side note, why does water raise the grain but oils and alcohols don't?