Painting Birch plywood reception desk

[MR H 91]

Hello all,

I'm almost done with a reception desk build project. I'm no professional when it comes to finishing and this piece needs to look rather special. The client would like the reception desk painted matte white to contrast well with the oak countertop.

Any advice on application techniques, amount of layers, sanding techniques between layers and final finish coat would be highly appreciated.

Many thanks.

 

[Droogs]

The thing to remember with matte finishes is that, in order to do it right preperation is the most important part. Any imperfection will show as a shadow or change in the reflectivity of the finished surface. For the art piece display plinths I make I use a high build primer thats normaly used for cars and rub down between coats with 240G, it takes up to 5sprayed coats to get a perfectly even surface. I use a 200w lamp shone at right angles to where I'm looking from across the surface at the lowest angle possible. I then build up 4 or 5 "mist" coats of the finish paint very lightly sanding with 320 inbetween each coat. Also and this is very important, I also wipe down with a lint free acetone soaked cloth and let it flash off and then wipe down with a tack rag just before applying each coat of primer or paint.

It takes a while but it does give an amazing finish.hth