# Kitchen Cabinet Doors and Face Frame Painting



## 123pugsy (Dec 6, 2014)

I have never painted anything made from wood that was not already previously painted.

I am making beaded face frames and doors for my kitchen cabinets and would like to use some paint with catalyst for a tough finish.

Face frames and doors will be poplar with MDF inserts in the doors.
A friend mentioned Zinsser Bullseye oil based primer. Not sure if I can spray this with my HVLP gun. Also, is this a good base for a 2K top coat?

Any specific brand of paint I should look for, for this application?

Thanks,
Pugsy


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## ryan50hrl (Jun 30, 2012)

I used that primer and then Dutch boy cabinet and door paint and I've been happy with the results.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

123pugsy said:


> I have never painted anything made from wood that was not already previously painted.
> 
> I am making beaded face frames and doors for my kitchen cabinets and would like to use some paint with catalyst for a tough finish.
> 
> ...


What you are proposing is very dangerous. A 2K urethane finish has a isocyanate hardener in it that using just one gallon can cause damage to your lungs equivalent to a lifetime of smoking cigarettes, even if you wear a paint respirator. The stuff will go through the filters. You need a air supplied respirator to work with it. It has a air compressor that is put somewhere where the air is clean and pumps clean air to the respirator. This type respirator costs three to five hundred dollars so not a lot of folks have one. The 2K paint really isn't worth all that. It will just dry hard faster. If you would use ProClassic oil based enamel from Sherwin Williams it would paint just as good but it wouldn't get as hard as the 2K for about two months. If you would just be careful not to damage the paint in that two months you would be as well off.


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## 123pugsy (Dec 6, 2014)

Steve Neul said:


> What you are proposing is very dangerous. A 2K urethane finish has a isocyanate hardener in it that using just one gallon can cause damage to your lungs equivalent to a lifetime of smoking cigarettes, even if you wear a paint respirator. The stuff will go through the filters. You need a air supplied respirator to work with it. It has a air compressor that is put somewhere where the air is clean and pumps clean air to the respirator. This type respirator costs three to five hundred dollars so not a lot of folks have one. The 2K paint really isn't worth all that. It will just dry hard faster. If you would use ProClassic oil based enamel from Sherwin Williams it would paint just as good but it wouldn't get as hard as the 2K for about two months. If you would just be careful not to damage the paint in that two months you would be as well off.


Thanks Steve.

I have a supplied air respirator, separated combustion furnace and an explosion proof exhaust fan. 

I wasn't aware though that a paint without a catalyst could dry as hard as one without. That's very interesting.

I need to finish this project and then wrap them up and put them in storage for quite some time and I can't wait two months to wrap them up.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

123pugsy said:


> Thanks Steve.
> 
> I have a supplied air respirator, separated combustion furnace and an explosion proof exhaust fan.
> 
> ...


Oh yea, I painted a tractor with Dupont Nason 2K urethane enamel and at present has only about 50 hours use on the tractor and the paint is rubbing off on the floorboard and seat already even though I put extra coats there. Had I know that I could gotten the same wear out of enamel house paint. The Nason did dry overnight as much as the house paint would in a month though.


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## CNYWOODS (Apr 22, 2012)

Skip the paint and tint some lacquer... Solvent or Water based.


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## 123pugsy (Dec 6, 2014)

Thanks.

The fella I got the wood from has pre-cat primer and paint. I got the primer already and will have him order me some paint.
The primer is ready to sand in 30 minutes.

A nice hard finish is just what the doctor ordered.
I'll try to remember to post back the results.:thumbsup:


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## JCCLARK (Jan 30, 2007)

Use conversion varnish, it's what the pro's 
use and it's made for woodwork.
It's a catalyzed finish that is way more durable
than household finishes.
I started using it last year, I'll never go back to 
anything else.
Here's a cabinet with their satin finish

http://www.worldpaintsupply.com/search.php?search_query=lenmar+white&x=0&y=0


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## RandyReed (Jul 30, 2014)

123pugsy said:


> I wasn't aware though that a paint without a catalyst could dry as hard as one without. That's very interesting.


Just a little run down. A catalyst is a chemical that increases the rate of a chemical reaction. The particular chemical reaction that takes place in wood finishes is called cross linking. Think of the molecular structure of a finish as strands of spaghetti. The catalyst caused the ends to join together to form long chains of molecules. The long molecular strands make the finishes harder and more resistant to water and chemicals. 

Catalyzed finishes are broken into two types; PreCatalyzed and Post Catalyzed. As the name implies, the PreCat already has a catalyst mixed into it and since the catalyst is rather weak, it has a pot life in the range of months. The most common PreCatalyzed finishes are PreCat lacquer, vinyl and occasionally a conversion varnish. Post Cat products require that you add the catalyst to the finish right before you spray. The catalysts used in these products are much stronger (hotter) that that used in PreCats and once added they have a pot life ranging in hours to minutes. All of the above mentioned finishes are available in a post catalyzed version. 

As opposed to shellac or nitrocellulose lacquer, once dry catalyzed finishes do not melt into the previous coat; so to get an acceptable intercoat adhesion it is vital that you sand between coats. The exception is if you are applying a wet on wet coat, in which the first coat has not totally dried so the solvent in the following coat will burn into the first coat causing it to chemically bond. Your timing when applying wet on wet coats is critical. If the first coat is too wet it will run, too dry and the second coat will not burn in. Wet on wet coats are frequently used when spraying polyester so that there is no halo if you burn thru a layer when polishing.


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## RandyReed (Jul 30, 2014)

JCCLARK said:


> Use conversion varnish, it's what the pro's
> use and it's made for woodwork.
> It's a catalyzed finish that is way more durable
> than household finishes.
> ...


Yep. I suggest conversion varnish on all kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanity's. I just sprayed CV today, LOL.


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## JCCLARK (Jan 30, 2007)

Keep in mind, a "hard" finish is not necessarily
a more "durable" finish.
Sometimes a harder finish is more brittle and will chip easier.
Car finishes are that way, the old lacquer finishes were the
hardest finish out there, they are also the least durable.


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## 123pugsy (Dec 6, 2014)

JCCLARK said:


> Keep in mind, a "hard" finish is not necessarily
> a more "durable" finish.
> Sometimes a harder finish is more brittle and will chip easier.
> Car finishes are that way, the old lacquer finishes were the
> hardest finish out there, they are also the least durable.


And square crisp corners will chip easier.

I won't mention about the crispy paint on my classic pickup truck that someone mixed wrong. What a disaster. :furious:


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