Last time I bought "good" paint from Sherwin Williams, the store manager
suggested Penetrol Paint Conditioner. The stuff is amazing... I'll
never
paint (w/good or bad paint) without it again.

You like your paint to flow, do you? Yeah, good stuff.


This was an important project, so I took all the advice I was given.
http://www.mikedrums.com/bookcases.jpg

I don't do a lot of painting, and i don't like it, but that stuff made me
want to paint more. :-)

I made the mistake of my life, with paint, but just once.

My wife wanted some large built in china cabinets made, so we talked about
what we wanted, and settled on red oak, lightly stained and clear coated. I
bought a good sized jag of oak, but then had some back issues and it sat for
a couple years until I started on them.

In the meantime, she decided that stained oak was dated, so she wanted them
to be painted. I told her that people don't paint oak; that was near to a
high crime. Never mind that, paint it would be.

I knew it was going to be tough to paint the oak, but that was my task, and
I would be up to the challenge.

I put on three cats of sanding sealer, with all of the required sanding,
then sprayed on some oil paint. Crrrraaap. That will never do; too much
grain pores showing through. Back to sanding, then with 4 or 5 coats of
sanding sealer, with the required sanding, then with a couple coats of
paint.

Still not even close. Now, I hit it with grain filler, sanding, then many
coats of sanding sealer, until it was slick as a baby's butt. More paint,
touch up with more filler here and there and sanding sealer, then more
paint.

I have to admit, they look glassy smooth, like a hand rubbed lacquer job,
but I sure had to work for it.

Never again. If you want smooth paint, no oak. I would have thrown the oak
in the dumpster, or burnt it in the fireplace, rather than building painted
cabinets out of it.

Live and learn. They say you learn most from your mistakes. If that is
true, I figure I must be a genius, by now!
--
Jim in NC