sanding sealer before acrylic paint?

[Richard Avram]

I have a piece that I am working on and I am going to have someone else decorate it with acrylic paint. The piece is Bradford pear, do I need to use a sanding sealer before she paints it and if yes, what would be a good choice?

 

[Bill Boehme]

Because it is a closed grain wood there aren't large pores to worry about sucking in the acrylic finish. However, if it is something like a vase that is turned end grain then it wouldn't hurt to use a sealer to insure that the finish will be uniform in appearance. If using an artist acrylic paint like Liquitex, sealing probably isn't necessary. Make sure to use a sealer that is compatible with the topcoat. Sometimes the term acrylic can mean different things (such as acrylic lacquer or acrylic enamel or acrylic latex).

 

[Richard Avram]

Thanks Bill, I will talk to the lady who is going to paint it and get all the details.

 

[Bill Boehme]

One other thought -- if it is a water based artist acrylic paint, then sealing would be a good idea to reduce wood swelling and warping.

 

[Steve Worcester]

I also depends on how liquid she paints. If the medium is really wet and runny, you will get bleeding on unsealed wood

 

[Richard Avram]

Sounds like I might better just seal it to be safe. I have never used a sealer before, are there any differences in them and what would you recommend?

 

[Bill Boehme]

Sounds like I might better just seal it to be safe. I have never used a sealer before, are there any differences in them and what would you recommend?

Manufacturers often recommend a specific sealer (made by them, of course) when using one of their topcoat products on bare wood. If you are unsure of selecting a sealer, it wouldn't hurt to follow their recommendation. You can also do an Internet search to select a sealer.

 

[Douglas Ladendorf]

Wouldn't shellac be fine for almost everything?

 

[Bill Boehme]

Wouldn't shellac be fine for almost everything?

I just happened to run across this on the Rustoleum Zinsser website: Technical Data Sheet for Seal Coat

It says that Seal Coat is 100% dewaxed shellac and is suitable for all topcoats. I found this while watching a Jimmy Clewes demo where he says that he cuts it 50-50 with DNA to achieve deeper penetration into wood fibers and it dries very fast.

 

[Douglas Ladendorf]

Yes, thanks Bill. I should have specified DEWAXED shellac. Thin with DNA, but might want another coat. The Zinnser spray can is fairly thin and easy. Just make sure it's fresh.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Yes, thanks Bill. I should have specified DEWAXED shellac. Thin with DNA, but might want another coat. The Zinnser spray can is fairly thin and easy. Just make sure it's fresh.

I didn't know that Zinsser Seal Coat came in a rattle can. Jimmy Clewes says that he thins the sealer which is already thin because he doesn't want to see any of the sealer on the surface. His goal is to have all of it soak into the fibers so that the topcoat won't be sucked into the fibers. Of course, he was using dye on the wood so his aim was different than what you are doing.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

I didn't know that Zinsser Seal Coat came in a rattle can. Jimmy Clewes says that he thins the sealer which is already thin because he doesn't want to see any of the sealer on the surface. His goal is to have all of it soak into the fibers so that the topcoat won't be sucked into the fibers. Of course, he was using dye on the wood so his aim was different than what you are doing.

Bill,

I use the spray Zinsser a lot as a sealer. Lowes has it and if I recall, Walmart too. De waxed

 

[john lucas]

No matter what you do run a test first when mixing any medium. Doesn't take long and solves the question of "will this go over this".

 

[Bill Boehme]

Bill,

I use the spray Zinsser a lot as a sealer. Lowes has it and if I recall, Walmart too. De waxed

OK, but is it Zinsser® Bulls Eye® Sealcoat Universal Sanding Sealer? The Rustoleum website only shows it in quart, gallon, and five gallon cans. Regular shellac is fine as a sealer especially if the wood is open grained like ash and red oak where other sealers are too thin to seal large pores.

Their regular shellac is available in rattle cans. They have a synthetic shellac primer/sealer called B-I-N 1-2-3 Primer but it has some white pigment in it. It is mainly for covering knots in wood and water stains in drywall -- two things that will bleed through paint.

 

[Douglas Ladendorf]

Here is the Zinsser I mentioned. It's Plain dewaxed shellac.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

Bill,

The picture that Douglas posted is the product I'm using.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I have used dewaxed shellac on cedar before applying polyurethane as a top coat. The oils in cedar can actually prevent poly from fully curing, especially over knots.