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Sealing wood

mzmacwiz's picture

Sealing wood (post #169561)

mzmacwiz on Thu, 01/05/2012 - 10:09
in

I am a decorative painter and paint on maple boxes with acrylic and/or oil paint. I was using a sealing product created by one of the artists I know, she has quit producing this sealer. I really liked it.

It is a water base product, dries to almost a sheen, prevents ridges forming from wood grain swell, can be sanded to a very smooth finish, I can then paint it with a background color of acrylic or oil and do my design on top.


Any suggestions as to what to replace this with would be greatly appreciated.

-A +A
epirnik's picture

The most common sealer in (post #169561, reply #1 of 2)

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epirnik in reply to mzmacwiz [original] on Thu, 01/05/2012 - 11:07

The most common sealer in woodworking is good old-fashioned shellac. I would veer towards the de-waxed variety. Go to a hardware store and pick up some "seal coat" it's a thinned down, de-waxed shellac.

I would suggest cutting it down a bit with some denatured alcohol. Try a mixture of 3/4 seal-coat and 1/4 denatured alcohol. Apply a coat, allow to dry, sand lightly with some 400-grit paper, re-apply, sand again, reapply, and then maybe just buff down the final coat a bit with some #0000 steel wool. I would imagine that would give you a nice smooth canvas on which to paint.

Cheers and good luck!

Ed

Ed Pirnik
Senior Web Producer
Fine Woodworking

Westchester's picture

Sealer (post #169561, reply #2 of 2)

by Westchester in reply to mzmacwiz [original] on Thu, 01/05/2012 - 13:58

I would look for a spray can product in the arts and crafts store near you.You're doing small jobs.  Not sure of a brand that is water based and won't raise the grain?   But that's no big deal - light sanding gets rid of the grain fuzz after sealing.

SA