Adding paint to water based polyurethane

[rodger.]

I have been interested to try General Finishes "white poly", but there is no-one anywhere within 12 hours of me that sells it. I thought, perhaps, that I could make my own paint/polyurethane mix. I have done some googling, and one person refers to this as "fortified paint".

I have successfully mixed water-based poly with the dye stains that general finishes produces - pretty easy. But has anyone mixed" latex" paint with water based polyurethane before? I specifically use General Finishes High Performance Poly. I spray via HVLP.

Anyone try this before? I attempted to email General Finishes, but they have no customer support email address, just some Facebook page link ( I very much dislike Facebook).

 

[gee-dub]

You could go mad-scientist and test it out.  The latex paint is going to have other ingredients beyond the pigment you are wanting for color.  As to businesses that use social network services in lieu of direct email or phone numbers, I go somewhere else and politely let them know I am going somewhere else and why. ;-)  If we don't tell suppliers we don't like something, they can't fix it.

[rodger.]

All they have listed is a Facebook page and a Fax number; that screams: "don't contact us".

[wtnhighlander]

@rodger., I have seen at least one home reno-type youtube channel that recommends mixing water-borne poly into latex paint as a way to "harden" the paint. I don't recall the brands that were mentioned, if any, but I do recall the amount of poly used was rather small, maybe 1 tbsp to a pint of paint.

Sounds like the mad scientist route is your best bet to determine how it really works.

As an aside, I have done a similar experiment, mixing plaster of paris into latex paint to produce a "chalk paint" texture. This also produces a very hard paint coating.

[BillyJack]

You'll just have to try a small batch.

[Wimayo]

I have no long term experience with it nor with using it on a large surface. About a year ago I use ordinary acrylic latex paint on our kitchen cabinets. This, as I found out, is not the best product for the purpose. Some areas that get heavy use, like the cabinet door under the sink, started to chip and peel fairly soon. I recently mixed some Minwax Polycrylic 20% with some of the left over paint I first used, and touched up the bad areas. This was about two months ago and it is holding up well. It flowed on nicely with a brush and covered the bad spots well. So far so good. I have read on other forums where others do this frequently.

[rodger.]

@Wimayo

I've had success with Benjamin Moore Advance on heavy wear kitchen furniture (I made a sideboard a year ago and painted it with BMA). It holds up really well to abuse - I drag stainless steel mixing bowls off a painted shelf almost daily. The only issue is that it is like mud in viscosity, and needs a 100 stage HVLP to spray it, even after thinning.

I contacted BM about thinning, and they said "Absolutely no more than 10% thinning". I called Fuji, and they said they routinely thin it 20% without issue. 

I am also interested in trying Sherwin Williams Aqua +, but it is hard to get in my region of you don't run a commercial business and buy it in bulk. That is what I started looking for alternatives.

The "tinted" polyurethane looks promising, but I don't want to spend a lifetime experimenting with it. I was hoping someone had a known recipe that was vetted.

Another option is to paint with flat paint, and then just spray a topcoat over that. But, if this is the route, the layers are gonna start getting thick (primer, paint 1 paint 2, topcoat 1, topcoat 2).

[Wimayo]

As I said, I have read other comments from others who say they use this mix frequently. I can't remember specifically where I read it. Try doing a more general web search, particularly of woodworking forums and home improvement forums. I think you will find something more definitive.