Painting my new Cabinets?

[Ben]

I'm in the process of finishing some new Kitchen cabinets for my house. I think they look great for a first project. Maple with inset doors, and some fancy trim. And the wife wants them white, or cream. I guess I'll use an oil base, but what's the best way to paint them? I don't have then need for a big hvlp system, so will brushing work ok or will there be a lot of brush strokes? What about on of the HVLP's from Home Depot. They run about 160 to 300? Any opinions on those? Harbor Freight also has one for $79 I think.

Thanks Ben

[Norm Underwood]

Good quality brush (made for oil paint) and a foam roller for the flat fields.

[Chris Merrill]

Gee, good thing you spent the extra $$$ for maple ;)

[Bay Area Dave]

Painting maple????????? Aaaargh!

dave

Ben wrote:

[Bay Area Dave]

you can't paint latex with a 2 stage HVLP. for 300 bucks you are gonna get a POS unit. I just got off the phone with a local spray rental/sales center and they confirmed my previous information that you have to get a big bucks 4 stage unit to do latex properly. I was also on the 'net this morning looking at the web sites of the major mfgrs. they don't show any 2 stage units doing latex. Fuji says they can spray latex with a 3 stage unit IF you thin the paint 20-25%. Better to rent one of the 4 stage units. i don't know if HD has those for rent. Good luck with PAINTING your maple, Ben!

dave

Ben wrote:

[Mike G]

You used maple and want to paint them? Different strokes I guess, you should get some interesting reply's with that statement. You could have saved a lot of money by doing the job with poplar and luan ply.

Unless you have need to do other finishing I'd suggest using a roller. Those HF and HD HVLP systems are great for most finishes but marginal at best for heavy bodied materials and you'll probably need a larger needle/nozzle combination then that which comes with them..

[Bob S.]

Good point Chris but..... (and this is way OT to the thread..)

I just made a single and French door set (frames only) made out of maple, cherry and poplar trim that will all be painted. What he didn't say is the grade of wood he used. In my case, it was #2 and the maple had a lot of mineral streaks, the cherry was both early and late wood (ugly looking) and the poplar was just odd sized but perfect for making brick moldings.

So all you enthusiasts that are getting ready to flame me for painting hardwoods - understand that all this wood was kiln-dried to 8% mc, rough sawn 5/4 or 8/4 (poplar) and that it was in the seconds bin at the mill I go to - all for $1.50bf.........;-) I couldn't have purchased kiln-dried pine for that price.... And boy did it make some nice door frames too....

Bob S.

[Tom Watson]

Maple used to be specified a lot for first rate painted trim. The impact resistance and the crispness of the profile that you can get on maple is better than poplar. If you use the stock that has mineral stains in it, that wouldn't pass the grading standard for clear finishes, the stuff is pretty cheap.

I've only seen it used on the kind of quality job where the casing is lemon splined (biscuits, these days) and this sort of thing was more common in public buildings, fancy apartment buildings (The Dakota, et al) and honest to god mansions from a past age (not mcmansions).

In interior cabinetry I still see specs for opaque finished maple on architect/designer specified jobs. The finish is opaque but not usually paint - more likely lacquer.

Regards, Tom Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania

[George M. Kazaka]

I Agree with Tom On this. Plain Maple has never been what would be called a pretty wood and being closed grained as it is Paints beautifully. I use it for paint a lot, Use poplar too but the Maple is harder.

And to shock everyone another wood that paints real nice is Redwood. It is used in Commercial application where the fire codes are real tough. Redwood does not burn on its own it need an outside source of cumbustion. Therefore it does not have to be treated which ruins the wood for painting.

Oak does not have to be treated either, But when painted of course the grain shows.

[Larry Jaques]

On Mon, 6 Oct 2003 11:03:28 -0400, "Ben" pixelated:

Spraying kitchen cabinets is the only way to go for shiny, flawless paint. See if you can rent a good one from a local rental yard.