- Best Paint Brush For Smooth Finish
- Best Paint Brush For Oil Based Paint
- Best Paint Brush For Smooth Finish On Metal
- Best Paint Brush For A Smooth Finish
When it comes to painting your interior trim work and doors nothing compares to the silky smooth finish that only a paint sprayer can deliver.
Until now.
Thanks to advancements in painting tech, elegant finishes are achievable when spraying isn’t a viable option. In this article I will share with you some great products and tools that will breathe new life into your old worn looking trim. You’ll be amazed at how a seemingly small improvement will dramatically renew your home’s beauty.
Before I get into all of that, I want to show you some before and after pics of an interior painting project my company did recently. I’d like to focus on the trim specifically.
A good paint job is all in the prep before you even touch a paint brush. Sand Your Primer. Without a smooth base, you can’t get a smooth finish. I always use oil-based primer on woodwork and cabinets so that I can sand it down to a super smooth feel before beginning my finish painting. Either way, the Wooster Brush Company says that the best paint roller for a smooth finish is a tightly knit, shed-resistant cover. A nap of 3/16 or 1/4 inch is ideal for smooth surfaces, such as. Foam Sponge is stain-resistant and more comfortable to clean and delivers a classic, smooth finish. It is best for painting highly polished surfaces – rough surfaces may tear the foam material. Furthermore, Foam Sponge is highly flexible and budget-friendly. The brush comes in multiple sizes and colors for optional selection when painting. Presa Premium Paint Brushes Set. The Presa Premium Paint Brushes Set features a five brush set.
Here is a closeup photo I took of a piece of door casing using a brush only.
Traditionally, to achieve a finish like this you would have to use an oil based paint. Oil bases on trim were great because of their ability to reduce brush marks when used. The oil in the paint “levels” or fills in the gaps where your brush made contact with the surface of what you were painting. (Personally I don’t like using oil base, it’s messier and harder to clean up).
Another irritant to me is that oil causes what’s known as “drag” when brushing. Drag is just what it sounds like. When you’re painting, it feels like someone is trying to stop your brush from moving easily. It seems like you expend more effort loading up your brush than you do actually painting.
SO….now that I’ve confessed my sin of being an oil hater….Let’s move forward into what the future holds. Because as I said, tech is here!
Sherwin Williams Pro Classic.
A water based paint that performs like an oil. Without the mess. Yeah! (I would argue you achieve a better result when having to brush with this product than with an oil base.) In all honesty, it does have a slight drag just like an oil, but not as bad. XIM makes this extender specifically designed for latex paint to ease the flow when brushing.
Now that we’ve got the right products, we need the right weapon to apply them. My choice: Purdy’s 2.5 in. Angled Nylox Brush.
Why this one? Well for me, this is my day in, day out cut in tool. Besides cut in’s, I use it on trim as well. It is by far the most versatile brush in my arsenal. It loads up well so you can move some paint, but what I love most is how super soft the bristles are. That’s what you want to help reduce brush marks! Combine that with the self leveling feature in Sherwin-Williams Pro Classic and you can’t go wrong.
As for cutting, you can get the bristle tips down to about an 1/8″ for laser like precision cutting. I wanna go paint something just thinking about it!
Before we go getting all cocky and believing we can rule the world, keep in mind there is preparation, skill, and technique involved too. If you need your home painted I’m your guy. But if you hand me the best wrenches ever made and pop the hood of your car wanting me to fix something, I guarantee you when I get it put back together there will be parts left over. 😛
Before ripping into a full blown project I would do some practicing on scrap pieces of casings and base moulding. They generally come pre-primed. If the pieces you select are bare wood, you will need to prime them using a wood primer. (I would suggest priming the pieces even if you bought the pre-primed variety) You can purchase both of these at your local big box store. Let’s begin with technique: Assuming your test piece is already primed, sanded, and ready to paint.
If you find the drag in Pro Classic to be a problem, add some of the XIM latex extender to your paint and stir it up. You’ll feel it loosen up as you stir. You don’t want to add too much so that the paint becomes runny. You want the paint to have some “body” to it. It’s best to follow the directions on the extender as to know how many parts to use per gallon/quart of paint.
Load up your paint brush and hold the trim piece. Start at one end of the piece (I’m a righty so I like to work from top to bottom while holding the work in my left hand) and brush the paint laying it on using somewhat heavy pressure, to move it in long strokes. Be sure to cover all the nooks and cranny’s of the surface with paint.
Once you’ve got the piece completely covered, start at one end and make two to three passes using lighter pressure to get good coverage and remove excess paint. Finally make one long final pass the length of the piece using light and I mean light, pressure to finish the layoff. It’s important that you don’t over brush the work. Remember, every time you lay that brush down you’re putting more trails into the paint. Then let the magic of Pro Classic do its work!
With a little practice you’ll achieve beautiful results that you can brag about to your friends. Or if your afraid you’ll have parts left over, you can always hire me to do it. Have a great day, and happy painting!
My friend John asked me to come over and help him with some crown molding he was getting ready to put up in his new family room. He had some beautiful poplar boards milled to match the trim in the rest of his house, and while I would have opted for a stain to highlight the wavy grain, John and Becky (mostly Becky) wanted it painted. “Happy wife, happy life.” So, paint it was.
When I arrived, John had the boards laid out on sawhorses in his garage, with newspapers spread out to protect the floor. But then he handed me a two-inch wide foam brush. “John,” I said, “Haven’t you heard? The better the brush, the better the finish.”
Which launched us into a discussion of how to choose the right brush for each project. Some of John and Becky’s trim was going to be stained and sealed with a clear finish, which gave me a chance (while we were working) to explain to John how to pick the best brush when you are staining and finishing. Take a look and see what John learned.
Why Does It Matter?
As I explained to John, a brush is a means of transporting a stain or finish from the can to the wood. When applying the stain, you can use either a rag or a brush. I prefer a brush, as it works better for getting stain into into corners and carvings, but you don’t have to use an expensive one or, for that matter, being excessively neat. That’s because your next step will be to wipe off any excess stain, so your rag will erase any brush marks, runs, drips or bristles left by your brush.
When laying down a smooth coat of clear finish, however, the brush will have a major impact on how it looks when it dries. That’s when picking the right brush really becomes important. And as I said to John, “You wouldn’t use a sledgehammer to drive in a finish nail, so why use a foam brush to try to lay down a smooth coat of finish?”
Foam Brushes.
I must admit, I do occasionally use foam brushes when staining a small project. Their greatest selling point is they are inexpensive.
But when it comes to applying a smooth coat of clear finish, such as polyurethane, a foam brush is not my first choice. Instead of bristles, it has a blade. The blunt sides leave two parallel ridges of finish, like a snowplow on the highway. Also, the foam head contains air, which can leave bubbles in your finish.
And if you use it for very long, the foam head begins to wear out and get floppy. It will even start to dissolve as you are brushing on stains and finishes containing mineral spirits or lacquer thinner.
Oil-Based Stains and Finishes.
Oil-based products contain mineral spirits, and for them I reach for a natural bristle brush.
For oil-based stains I use a Minwax® Wood Finish™ Stain Brush. These brushes are designed to carry a lot of stain from the can to your project, and hold up much better than foam brushes.
And unlike foam brushes, these natural bristles brushes can be cleaned with ordinary mineral spirits (paint thinner) and re-used indefinitely.
Much better than tossing dozens of foam brushes a year into the garbage can!
Water-Based Stains and Finishes.
Unlike mineral spirits, water causes natural bristles to swell. As they do, they loose their shape. Rather than use a natural bristle brush with water-based stains and clear finishes and watch it swell out of shape (top brush), I use a synthetic bristle brush, such as Minwax® Polycrylic® Brush (bottom brush). These bristles won’t absorb water and won’t lose their shape.
And clean-up is a breeze with soap and water.
Quick Tip: After cleaning, wrap the damp bristles in a paper towel, then secure with a rubber band. Once the bristles are dry, slip your brush back into its cardboard sleeve to maintain their shape.
Use the hole in the end of the handle to hang your brush to dry with the bristles pointing down, letting any remnants of stain or finish escape before hardening.
Good, Better, Best.
As I told John, not all brushes are created equal. They can range in price from less than a dollar to more than twenty dollars. You can spot the difference in three areas: the handle, the bristles, and the ferrel, which holds the bristles to the handle.
Best Paint Brush For Smooth Finish
Handle – If you used a brush every day to make a living, you would want a contoured handle. Most of us are perfectly content with a standard handle that costs less to make.
Ferrel – Check the metal band holding the bristles to the handle to make sure it is secure. Tug gently on the bristles to see if the ferrel has a firm grasp on them.
Bristles – These should be soft and pliable.
Best Paint Brush For Oil Based Paint
In this photo, the foam brush at the top rates a “Good,” the bristle brush in the middle is a “Better,” and the professional brush at the bottom rates a “Best.”
It Takes All Three.
Just as you have different sizes and types of screwdrivers in your workshop, odds are you will need all three types of brushes: foam, natural bristle, and synthetic bristle. You will also want to have them in different widths to fit the different size of cans of stains and clear finishes. The best time to buy them is before you need them, so pick out a selection of types and sizes, store them in a drawer to keep the dirt and dust off them, and clean them after each use. The reward for your efforts will be a stain and a finish that is as smooth as any professional could have achieved.
Best Paint Brush For Smooth Finish On Metal
Good Luck!
Best Paint Brush For A Smooth Finish
Bruce