Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Giving new life to a piece of furniture.


When it comes to my world of restoration and woodworking I not too picky if the money is right. Take for example the set of 4 shield back chairs made from mahogany and now painted. While some will say why would you paint them? There are also many who will say I love them! Really when it comes down to it, my business is to save furniture from heading into a dumpster or another land fill. If I can give a client the look they desire by painting and/or adding new upholstery than I have succeeded. But not only have I succeeded in satisfying the client, I also prevent them from purchasing a low grade, off gassing, production made item made who knows where. Now that puts a smile on my face.

The process I went through to paint the chairs was relatively simple. I abraded all surfaces with the red scotch brite pad from Norton, wipe all the dust down, and brushed on a couple coats. Than I sprayed on 3 more coats of paint.  Why brush and than paint? The client wanted a brush look so by brushing first the spray coats will lay over the brush strokes and appear each layer was brushed on.  Spray painting is far easier and faster than brushing. Also spraying gives you more control and allows you to get paint in hard to reach areas. The spray gun of choice... drum roll please.... The cheap harbor freight gravity feed gun. Why? I dedicate my guns and I don't want to spend the time to clean each gun perfectly.  So I have a paint gun for white, black, grey, finishes, shellac, lacquer, etc.  This says a ton of time and solvents.  Once all the painting is done I hit all surfaces with  a brown paper bag and burnish the surface.

That is it. Quick and easy. If I can do you surely can as well.


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