Am I crazy to wetsand?

[stealthwolf]

Window boards have had acrylic primer undercoat. I’m using Dulux Quick Drying water based Satinwood for next two coats. Despite using a wooster silvertip brush, there are brush marks in the first coat.

Having done a bit of wetsanding on car paint years ago, I’m tempted to do the same. Sane or stupid?

 

[opps]

Wooster make some excellent brushes. The silver tips (sold at places such as Screwfix) are vastly inferior to their premium brushes (IMO the silvers are rubbish and no better than the equally pants but cheaper brands such as Proline). When I noticed that Screwfix were selling Wooster brushes I rushed out to buy some. Within 5 minutes I regretted my purchase.

I have used the Wooster Pro Ultra brushes for years and highly recommend them.

I am not a fan of waterbased finishes, primarily because I can not get as flat a finish as I can with oil based paints. There are additives that you can use to make life easier though. The market leading one is Floetrol. It isn't cheap but a little bit goes a long way. The cheapest option (other than adding so much water that the paint fails) is to add some propylene glycol. Off the top off my head it is up to 5 times cheaper than Floetrol, BUT floetrol is more than just PG.

You can buy PG on ebay/etc.

 

[stealthwolf]

Wooster make some excellent brushes.

I have used the Wooster Pro Ultra brushes for years and highly recommend them.

The market leading one is Floetrol.

Wow. I thought all Wooster brushes were good. I’ll chuck the silvertip ones and replace them. I’ve ordered floetrol through their website. I’ll rub down the first coat with some high grit sandpaper in preparation.

 

[ic1927]

Agree with opps, silver tips are awful quality, the best Wooster brushes I've used are Alphas, not sure if they're still available though, great brushes.

 

[opps]

Wow. I thought all Wooster brushes were good. I’ll chuck the silvertip ones and replace them. I’ve ordered floetrol through their website. I’ll rub down the first coat with some high grit sandpaper in preparation.

If you want to remove brush marks you need a higher grit number (which I think is what you meant). I would recommend something like Abranet mesh(180 grit). It isn't cheap, over a tenner, closer to £15 for 5m but it is less likely to clog when sanding waterbased paints.

 

[stealthwolf]

If you want to remove brush marks you need a higher grit number

I was denibbing with 400 grit sandpaper.

Using wooster pro ultra and floetrol was an eye opener. No drag. Smooth coats. I felt like an artist. What I did do was use a purdy mini roller, roll on the paint and then use the brush to lay it off. It’s far from perfect but so much better than what was there before. I have a final sanding to go and then will see how acceptable the finish is.

Certainly there’s no way I can spend this amount of time doing the skirting, architrave and door frames. It’ll probably be a light sand, acrylic primer undercoat and finish with satinwood.

 

[opps]

I was denibbing with 400 grit sandpaper.

Using wooster pro ultra and floetrol was an eye opener. No drag. Smooth coats. I felt like an artist. What I did do was use a purdy mini roller, roll on the paint and then use the brush to lay it off. It’s far from perfect but so much better than what was there before. I have a final sanding to go and then will see how acceptable the finish is.

Certainly there’s no way I can spend this amount of time doing the skirting, architrave and door frames. It’ll probably be a light sand, acrylic primer undercoat and finish with satinwood.

Respect to you.

BTW, I would recommend no higher than 240 grit. You (potentially) run risk "polishing" the wood, rather than providing a key.

Hopefully, now that you have a decent brush and the floetrol, all you need to do the remaining existing woodwork is key it with 180 grit and then paint it (without needing to sand between coats.