For the last few weeks, I’ve been discussing the use of primer before spraying a color wood coating. Sometimes color coatings can be less opaque than we think they are that’s why it’s so important to use a primer first. As I said in last Friday’s blog — often the primer coat must be pristine because it is the white of the primer that helps create the final color due to the transparence of the color coat. This process is something that professional auto body repairmen truly understand.
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Remember the candy apple hot rod colors from the 50s and 60s? That’s what I am talking about. Those techniques continue to be used every day in auto body painting. Thinking of it this way, if the color you apply to a spray-out card, which tests opacity, can’t hide the black, how can it hide the white?
Primers are designed to do a number of things.
• They should be an interface between the bare wood and the color coat. They should stick to the wood and they should allow the color coat to stick to them.
• They should be very opaque (32 -45+ volume solids) so that differences in the color of the wood will not telegraph through. Again, an auto body repairman will always prime his “Bondo” repairs to hide the differences in color before proceeding on.
• It would be a real plus if primers sanded well and if they had some filling properties to them so that sanding scratches and other small blemishes in the wood surface could be eliminated or reduced.
• Stain blocking properties are also nice for wood primers.
Look for my final thoughts on this topic next week - until then...spray on!
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