Gloss Painting - One Coat or Two?

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Hello
In the past whenever I've painted with gloss paint it has only needed one coat. However I'm about to paint a bookcase with a dark gloss and I wondered what to do if it needs a second coat.

Do you apply the second coat as soon as the first coat has dried and do you lightly sand the first coat before applying the second?

Thanks for your advice
 
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Gloss (on its own) is rubbish at obliterating previous colours. As Chris1982 suggests, use undercoat to do that. A decorators' merchant can mix the undercoat to the same colour as the gloss.

Of the hundreds of bookcases that I have hand painted, only one set of bookcases was painted in gloss. All of the rest were finished with oil based eggshell.

Not sure if you have considered eggshell or not. It is easier to apply and far more forgiving than gloss. If a gnat lands on it an hour later you don't need to repaint the whole panel.

With regards to glossing over oil based gloss- when painting exterior woodwork I apply two coats of gloss. Providing that the second coat is applied within a couple of weeks of the first coat, there is no need to sand.

Be advised that if the dark gloss you are going to use is oilbased and mixed on purchase by a store, it may take a very, very long time to cure. The pigment used to colour both waterbased and oil based paints in store is universal. The more pigment used, the longer the paint takes to cure. Premixed paints are less of an issue (I guess the manufacturer uses darker bases and different pigments).

By way of an example, I recently painted a door in post box red. Both the oilbased undercoat and eggshell were mixed with the same pigments. Ordinarily I would expect to be able to sand the undercoat the next day using 240 grit Festool Granat mesh paper. 4 days later the paint was still clogging the paper.
 
Thanks for your reply, I think I'll take your advice and use eggshell instead, there are lots of minor imperfections on the bookcase which I'm sure will show up with gloss.

Perhaps you could give me some more tips on painting bookcases, do you use a brush or small roller, do you paint the ends before the shelves?

Thanks a lot, Robin
 
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A dark coloured eggshell will do a cracking job of hiding imperfections.

Gloss will highlight them
 
Thanks for your reply, I think I'll take your advice and use eggshell instead, there are lots of minor imperfections on the bookcase which I'm sure will show up with gloss.

Perhaps you could give me some more tips on painting bookcases, do you use a brush or small roller, do you paint the ends before the shelves?

Thanks a lot, Robin

I use 170mm wide Anza paint pads. They are the only ones on the market that don't have foam backing under the pile. All other paint pads soak up too much paint and the paint splurges out of the sides as you pull them along the surface.

Unfortunately the decent Anza paint pads are difficult to source (note: Anza also make foam backed pads).

Before discovering the Anza pads I used to use a roller to apply the paint and then dragged a brush over the surface to achieve the tramlines (brushmarks).

The pads however are faster and provide a more even coverage.

If you are going to use oil based eggshell, I would recommend adding a little white spirit if you are using a decent brand (eg Dulux Trade), a tiny amount of Terebene oxidising agent (to speed up curing) and Owatrol Oil (it helps you maintain a wet edge (not cheap but lasts for ages).

Shelves- if the shelves are removable, I normally hammer plasterboard screws into the ends so that I can lean two shelves against each other whilst they dry (think of an inverted V). I hammer the screws until they are deep enough to support the weight of the selves. I paint the front edge of the shelf first then use a lint free J-Cloth to wipe away any excess that runs on to the top/bottom edge. I then paint both the top with the shelf laying flat and then lift it up right, using the two screws in the top to hold it steady so that I can paint the underside. the screws on one end of the shelf are positioned wide enough apart to prevent the shelf from tilting to the side, the screws in the other end are close enough for me to be able to rest my palm over them both to secure the shelf whilst painting.

Whilst painting the top and bottom faces, any paint that runs on to the front edge is removed by lightly running my finger over the surface (ensuring that the paint on the front edge is still wet).

If using waterbased paints don't use Terebene or Owatrol oil. If you are finding that the paint is drying too quickly you can add Floetrol.
 

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