Paint or stain first?

Earl Rumans

Member
Messages
51
Location
Providence Forge, VA
I am currently making an outdoor name and address sign, from Cypress, for my daughters new house. I will be routing out the numbers and letters and painting them black. The wood will be stained and then covered with spar varnish. I was planning to paint everything first but I am not sure if that is the best way to go. Would it be better to stain first and them paint the insides of the letters and numbers, or would painting first work better? I will be using an oil based paint, so it should cover well either way. I was just thinking that cleaning up any mistakes with the paint would be easier if everything were coated with the varnish first.
 
I have done many of these.

This is my process.

Sand surface of wood to 220 grit

I normally spray shellac, but you can stain first, then shellac. I use 2-3 coats of shellac.

Using a block sander, by hand I sand 220 to make the surface "flat".

I then apply a paint mask - make sure there are no bubbles.

Route the text.

Spray the text with shellac - 2-3 coats

Paint the text - I use spray paint

Peel off the mask and sand lightly with 220

Finish with your final coating of choice.

I have a video of the process


 
Great video Leo! I mentally filed away your method for future use. For some strange reason while I was watching the video, I kept thinking I was in an elevator. :)
 
Very nice well done video Leo. I wish I had a CNC machine, I think it would be really fun to create with one. My sign came out fairly good, for a hand done project I was happy with the results. I did stain it first and then painted the black. I posted it in the the flatwork showcase thread but if you didn't see it, here is a pic.




 
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