Enamel Painting: Beginner Guide to Enamel painting

Enamel painting is a fun leisure activity practiced professionally or as a hobby. It is perfect for people who are handy and live an active lifestyle. It is perfect for outside walls, wood, hard surfaces, concrete surfaces. The paint provides a glossy dense finish that lasts a long time. The first step is to purchase the paint, brush and safety gear. Then select the medium to paint. Finnaly get cracking and have fun appying the color.

Enamel is applied to produce durable excellent finish. Mostly applied to hard surfaces they are perfect for outdoors application, places subject to hard use or nature. The first step to using enamel paint is to choose the right raw materials.

Enamel paint is best used in heavy wear locations both outdoors and inside. They are perfect for external walls at the mercy of the elements. The paints glossy dense finish is damage, stain resistant and tough. They offer the painter a bright protective finish that is beautiful and easy on the eyes.

There are different type’s water or oil based paint. Other categories are floor, nail, fast dry, and epoxy enamel. Oil based ones are perfect for tough surfaces or outdoors while water based are used for general surfaces.

Advantage of oil based products are smoother finish, long lasting, glossy finish. Water based products are less toxic are easy to clean and dry fast. Pyroxyline paint is used in the automobile industry while vitreous enamel is used by commercial artists.

• Oil Based
• Water Based

Floor enamel: is used for patios, basements, stairs and concrete surfaces.

Traditional enamel: used for building surfaces, woodwork and trim

Epoxy: used to protect coating good anticorrosion

Fast dry: are perfect for refrigerators, freezers, counters

High temperature Enamel: they are perfect for automobile parts like engines, exhaust, brakes.

Nail Enamel: nail enamel is popular in the beauty industry to color nails.

Best brush for oil based products are soft brittle brushes with appropriate filaments. Some painters prefer brushes with angled brittle edges with appropriate stiffness. Another type of brush to consider are wide array of synthetic brushes. In-place of the brush a painter can use a sprayer to cover the surface.

The first step before applying enamel paint is to apply a primer. Then apply the enamel with even brush strokes that are fluid and consistent. The job of a primer is to hide any inconsistencies in the wall, wood or unfinished material.

Use oil based primer to cover the inconsistences and offer a smoother surface. If there are discolored areas use a thin coat of paint. Whatever method used to apply the paint it is good practice to apply two coat of paint.

The second coat will cover any inconsistences and offer an even surface. It takes about two hours for water based paint to dry. However traditional oil based enamel will need twenty four hours to dry completely.

Things that affect drying time are weather conditions like rain, sunlight, humidity. Best drying weather is warm hot weather and enamel paint is easy to clean with a wet towel.

Primer works perfectly rough surfaces they are generally used on uneven surfaces. Ideal surface are cabinets, walls, woodwork and trim. They help even out holes and offers a smoother finish.

Where to Use Primer

• Wall
• Woodwork and trim
• unfinished material
• cabinets
• uneven natural materials

The type of job will determine the equipment needed.to repaint enamel on woodwork and trim you need a clean rag, paint scrapper. Others are wire-brush, pre-paint cleaner and paint brush. More are primer, sandpaper, 220-git, Trisodium phosphate.

Enamel Painting Equipment

• Hard paint brush
• Paint rooler
• Clean rag
• Paint scrapper
• Wire-brush
• Pre-paint cleaner
• Primer
• Sandpaper, 220-git
• Trisodium phosphate

Use a wire-brush to remove paint patches then use a grease-cutting detergent to clean old paint. Other methods are to use a pre-paint cleaner or make your own solution. Next step is to sand the surface then use a dry cloth to wipe any sand, dust or debris.

Use natural bristle brush for oil and synthetic brush for water based paint. Brush with even strokes are an angle and reapply a second coating. Water based paint will dry in a few hours while oil based paint twenty four hours.