Painting metal cabinets

I am going to paint my vintage metal kitchen cabinets, and I think I will use Rustoleum enamel paint. I read that it should be thinned. By how much? 50? Less?

Also, what is wet sanding?

Thanks.

 

Wet sanding is a technique used mainly when painting cars. First you need to have the right kind of sandpaper. Wet/dry paper is usually black. There are several ways to wet sand. You can use a water hose with the water just trickling out of it or you can use a spray bottle or bucket of water. Keeping the substrate wet helps to keep the sandpaper from plugging up. Usually wet sanding is the final [fine] sanding before painting. If you plan to spray your cabinets, wet sanding can help you to achieve that factory look [providing any other body work is addressed] If you intend to brush or roll the paint - I wouldn't bother wet sanding.

How much to thin the paint depends a lot on the method of application. For the most part, most paint manufactures don't want their coatings thinned and if they must be thinned, not more than 10%. Unless you are using an airless, you'll need to thin the paint more than that. How much depends on your spray set up since not all cup guns are equal. The short answer is the paint must be thin enough to atomize properly. If you thin it too much, you'll have more overspray and a greater likelihood of runs and poor coverage.

How do you intend to apply the paint. If spraying, what type of spray equipment, if conventional - what size air compressor?

 

I had a serious problem with brush strokes the last two times I used Rustoleum, even when I sanded between coats. Maybe it's not the paint's fault, but just in case, I selected paint for my next project that Consumer Reports gave high ratings for surface smoothness. Rustoleum wasn't rated, but I bet it wouldn't do well in the surface smoothness category, unless it's sprayed.

 

I've never had any brush mark issues with Rustoleum paint. You do need to use the right type of brush. While synthetic bristle brushes state they can be used with latex or oil, they don't do as well with oil as a natural bristle brush does. Sometimes a little bit of thinner is needed but never more than 10%. Painting in the sun or when the substrate is hot to the touch can also make brushing more difficult.

 

I used Painter's Touch multi-purpose latex semigloss and a 3" Performance Select Gold Series 100% tapered filament brush. Except the first coat or two was applied with a cheaper brush and I don't remember the weather conditions. I have some left so I'll eventually try again.

 

With latex paint you need to use a synthetic bristle brush, I prefer the Purdy brand but there are other manufactures that also make quality brushes. Additives like Flood's Floetrol or XIM's Extends slow down the drying time a little and helps the paint to 'flow' together helping to eliminate brush marks.