Help make Wood look like metal

C

Cminion

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I have read around a lot trying to find a full answer but can not seem to find exact answer. I was hoping to get some help with this next project. I have ( can add pictures later if want to see ) a 2 drawer file cabnet that is all wood. I have not done anything to it yet but the plan is to sand it till smooth. I have not done alot of work on wood and talked to nada about this, but trying to figure out best way.

Here is my problem, after it is sanded down i do not know where to start next to make sure the paint does not seap into wood. I also do not know what the best paint would be to put on it to get a metal effect. What i am wanting to do is paint this entire thing metal looking then tape off and do drop shadows and e tc to make the cabnet in the end look like rusted metal with rivets and more details. I do not know what paint would be the best for a base for metal. Since there is so much to cover that would be to much to try to cover with airbrush i would think so spray paint would be best to just get the grey or silver looking metal look?

Ty for any info you can give me to help :)
 
I have read around a lot trying to find a full answer but can not seem to find exact answer. I was hoping to get some help with this next project. I have ( can add pictures later if want to see ) a 2 drawer file cabnet that is all wood. I have not done anything to it yet but the plan is to sand it till smooth. I have not done alot of work on wood and talked to nada about this, but trying to figure out best way.

Here is my problem, after it is sanded down i do not know where to start next to make sure the paint does not seap into wood. I also do not know what the best paint would be to put on it to get a metal effect. What i am wanting to do is paint this entire thing metal looking then tape off and do drop shadows and e tc to make the cabnet in the end look like rusted metal with rivets and more details. I do not know what paint would be the best for a base for metal. Since there is so much to cover that would be to much to try to cover with airbrush i would think so spray paint would be best to just get the grey or silver looking metal look?

Ty for any info you can give me to help :)

If you are going sand it back to almost bare wood you actually want your paint to seep into the wood that's how you get the best adhesion, you can use an aluminium, or as you would say, aluminum primer which you can get at any hardware store fairly cheap compared to airbrush metallics, you can get it water based or oil based, if you use water based your wood will have to pretty bare, if you have the equipment you can spray it, if not you can simply use a brush or fine haired roller, if I wanted to do what you want to do, I would apply two or three coats of the aluminium primer so that you can scuff without the risk of going through it, and then you are ready to apply your design, after you've done your design you apply a couple of coats of ordinary household gloss Varnish (matt if you prefer) with a very light scuff between coats, and then just stand back and admire you're work:)

Note: The above process is assuming you want to keep the price down, if not, you could go the ten times more expensive auto air route;)

Take into account that if you take out the drawers and paint the edges you will have quite a build up so to avoid your drawers sticking vigorous sanding would be advised in those areas, I would personally use a sanding machine;)
 
If you are going sand it back to almost bare wood you actually want your paint to seep into the wood that's how you get the best adhesion, you can use an aluminium, or as you would say, aluminum primer which you can get at any hardware store fairly cheap compared to airbrush metallics, you can get it water based or oil based, if you use water based your wood will have to pretty bare, if you have the equipment you can spray it, if not you can simply use a brush or fine haired roller, if I wanted to do what you want to do, I would apply two or three coats of the aluminium primer so that you can scuff without the risk of going through it, and then you are ready to apply your design, after you've done your design you apply a couple of coats of ordinary household gloss Varnish (matt if you prefer) with a very light scuff between coats, and then just stand back and admire you're work:)

Note: The above process is assuming you want to keep the price down, if not, you could go the ten times more expensive auto air route;)

Take into account that if you take out the drawers and paint the edges you will have quite a build up so to avoid your drawers sticking vigorous sanding would be advised in those areas, I would personally use a sanding machine;)

Ty i will look at some of those things :p iwas thinking some kind of primer like that. I have a osculating sander i was planing on using so i think that would solve a lot of issues especially since the wood has a lot of dents and dings in it from over the years of use. I am trying to plan all this when its warm enough since in next month or so it will start to warm up and can do this crap without killing my back. Cold makes my back hurt more, well cold outside.
 
Ty i will look at some of those things :p iwas thinking some kind of primer like that. I have a osculating sander i was planing on using so i think that would solve a lot of issues especially since the wood has a lot of dents and dings in it from over the years of use. I am trying to plan all this when its warm enough since in next month or so it will start to warm up and can do this crap without killing my back. Cold makes my back hurt more, well cold outside.

No problem, don't worry too much about the dents and dings, you can get synthetic wood fillers for that, you don't to go too deep when you sand, if you try to sand out the dents, your surface won't be flat anymore.
 
If you go down to bare wood you will need to use a sanding sealer to seal the wood so the water in the paint won't raise the grain and show thru your paint will stick to it just fine,just fix the dings and such,apply sealer,sand lightly,rub down with a damp rag and let dry(this will raise any grain you missed sealing the wood) reseal,sand down again and prime with primer,and paint with what ever you want to use(I would use water based paint because it's easy to clear with a gloss or satin spray finish)
 
I did rattle can silver for the door upstairs. But it was already sealed.

Lowes has samples of some of their better paints, you might consider a metallic in that for base. I think a sample goes for 3 bucks, which is cheaper than a rattle can. All depends on the rust effect you want as to what the base would be.
If i recall that cabinet is pretty big and would take more than one spray can.
 
I did rattle can silver for the door upstairs. But it was already sealed.

Lowes has samples of some of their better paints, you might consider a metallic in that for base. I think a sample goes for 3 bucks, which is cheaper than a rattle can. All depends on the rust effect you want as to what the base would be.
Will look into that, btw nada i took those classes, first one they let me do for free since i been doing for 3 -4 months. Teacher was awesome and learned very little but still something. I did another eye while others where doing exercises lol turned out decent. Killing me mentally though i really want to airbrush but this weekend omg did my back hurt after those classes. I hope since its warming up my back will have less issues. I hope your room coming along nicely and you been able to airbrush some
 
Will look into that, btw nada i took those classes, first one they let me do for free since i been doing for 3 -4 months. Teacher was awesome and learned very little but still something. I did another eye while others where doing exercises lol turned out decent. Killing me mentally though i really want to airbrush but this weekend omg did my back hurt after those classes. I hope since its warming up my back will have less issues. I hope your room coming along nicely and you been able to airbrush some
No airbrushing, i have all the floor.joists in, and started laying decking today. Still a lot of debris to get out, im hoping to be painting walls by weekend.
And by 2 weeks from now hoping to have all the flooring done and moving in.
 
No airbrushing, i have all the floor.joists in, and started laying decking today. Still a lot of debris to get out, im hoping to be painting walls by weekend.
And by 2 weeks from now hoping to have all the flooring done and moving in.
Awesome when ya get done enough to show me let me know and this time ill come up there not near a holiday and not have major anxiety break down lol
 
I know this is old but someone may read it some day via a search. I'vc been experimenting some with airbrushing on wood, in particular MDF and a little on some pine. I've found that if it came with a factory finish scuffing and painting worked best. In the case of the original poster that's what I would do. If sanded down to bare wood I found the grain or fibers to be a problem. I even tried the new Autobourne sealer as it specifically says direct to wood. The adhesion was fine, but I found it lacked that super slick smooth surface I was after.

I have also sprayed hign build auto primer and sanded that down. So far I've got my best results by spraying (or brushing) on some water based polyurethane. Actually the gay at the auto paint store indirectly recommended it by saying the key to painting wood is sealing it first (an epoxy primer would probably be great too) At first it soaks in (the ploy), but after a few coats it seals it up really nice. Then i have a super tough surface that I can scuff or lightly sand to be total smooth and the paint will adhere beautifully.

These were all done on wood. 1/4 inch primed MDF from the big box store.

candy-2.0.jpg

Large-Turtle---finished_MG_3074.jpg

Lowrider-trout.jpg

This one was done on 1/2 MDF. I routered the edge. I've found routered edges to be the biggest issue to contend with.

Salmon_T2A4956.jpg
 
Metal-plate.jpg I should have just posted this one first, :). Also done on the 1/4 primed MDF board. I was lazy and didn't feel like going to my other computer where it was saved but felt bad :)
 
View attachment 44062 I should have just posted this one first, :). Also done on the 1/4 primed MDF board. I was lazy and didn't feel like going to my other computer where it was saved but felt bad :)

Hey that is some awesome airbrushing and i can not wait to be that good. I have not posted anything in awhile because we have been waiting months for basement to be fixed, problem after problem it kept getting pushed back. Everything was shoved in extra room down there so i could not airbrush. They finnaly finished and soon i will be able to after we fix one last issue where some water is coming in. Since my back problems i have to save it for that job or doing both will put me in severe pain. Ty for the tips on the wood so i know what to do. I just have a few things that are wood i want to paint in the basement to liven it up and look awesome.
 
Hey that is some awesome airbrushing and i can not wait to be that good. I have not posted anything in awhile because we have been waiting months for basement to be fixed, problem after problem it kept getting pushed back. Everything was shoved in extra room down there so i could not airbrush. They finnaly finished and soon i will be able to after we fix one last issue where some water is coming in. Since my back problems i have to save it for that job or doing both will put me in severe pain. Ty for the tips on the wood so i know what to do. I just have a few things that are wood i want to paint in the basement to liven it up and look awesome.

Not sure what back issue you have, but I am a PT. I'd highly suggest investing $10 in the book "Treat your own back" by Robin McKenzie. Some real simple stuff in there that can make a huge difference for you. Again, a rather generic suggestion since I have no idea what your situation is but I'd say the stuff in that book helps 80% of the spine patients I work with!

Good luck, with everything. Thanks for the compliment. Took me a while to get here, and honestly I have a LOT to leanr but my skills have certainly grown in comparison to what they were like when I first started. You will get there too!
 
Not sure what back issue you have, but I am a PT. I'd highly suggest investing $10 in the book "Treat your own back" by Robin McKenzie. Some real simple stuff in there that can make a huge difference for you. Again, a rather generic suggestion since I have no idea what your situation is but I'd say the stuff in that book helps 80% of the spine patients I work with!

Good luck, with everything. Thanks for the compliment. Took me a while to get here, and honestly I have a LOT to leanr but my skills have certainly grown in comparison to what they were like when I first started. You will get there too!


I am glad you have gotten so far and i hope to get there myself one day. As for my back problems i have 3 bulging disc in my neck, one in mid back, one in lower. i have 2 points of stenosis in neck and one in lower back along with arthritis on 3 points of my spine. When i was 21 they found out i had skuliousis with a 18% curve in my lower spine with my left hip being 1 inch higher then my right.
 
I am glad you have gotten so far and i hope to get there myself one day. As for my back problems i have 3 bulging disc in my neck, one in mid back, one in lower. i have 2 points of stenosis in neck and one in lower back along with arthritis on 3 points of my spine. When i was 21 they found out i had skuliousis with a 18% curve in my lower spine with my left hip being 1 inch higher then my right.

He has a book "treat you own neck" too. Seen many patients with scoliosis respond very well to this approach. You'd be amazed at how many "normal" painfree people have bulging and herniated discs. it's just all about the loads we do or do not put on them. Even have a bruise and not even know it was there until after you leaned on it? I have significant degeneration and blown discs in my back. Hurt it nearly 20 years ago. Truth is I have way less pain now (usually very little at all most days) then 15 years ago because I know how unload it :).
 
He has a book "treat you own neck" too. Seen many patients with scoliosis respond very well to this approach. You'd be amazed at how many "normal" painfree people have bulging and herniated discs. it's just all about the loads we do or do not put on them. Even have a bruise and not even know it was there until after you leaned on it? I have significant degeneration and blown discs in my back. Hurt it nearly 20 years ago. Truth is I have way less pain now (usually very little at all most days) then 15 years ago because I know how unload it :).

Im gonna have to look into this book as im having a lot of trouble with my neck lately and this just might be the solution. Amazing what ya learn on an airbrush forum lol


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Im gonna have to look into this book as im having a lot of trouble with my neck lately and this just might be the solution. Amazing what ya learn on an airbrush forum lol


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In deed.

In fact I just treated a patient tonight who was having neck pain. I'd seen him before so when he left I asked him if he had read that book (he had one). Of course he said "no, not yet". Well, I told him we just did exercise number 5 and that reduced his pain pretty much on the spot. He probably could have saved himself $200 and self treated if he read the book, and did what it said :)
 
That Harley table I re-did? It was all sanded down. I used shaker can primer lol totally cheated. Came out just fine :)
 
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