Toughen gloss paint

[apsmith]

Hi All,

I recently painted my banister in gloss paint. It was a dark varnish and so I rubbed it down, primered it, put two coats of undercoat and two coats of oil based gloss top coat.

I must have finished painting about 6 weeks ago, and I have been very strict with my partner about her not hanging coats or handbags etc on it whilst it drys and hardens.

Yesterday I just gently bumped in to the end post and a rivet on my jeans pocket took the paint off right down to the varnish, and now I am worried that this kind of incident is going to happen all the time.

Is there any thing I can do to toughen the paint like spraying it in a clear lacquer?

Many thanks,

Adrian

 

[Bosswhite]

The bannister rail is going to be prone to hard usage, so nothing will stop it being chipped.

Need to go back to the beginning, you say you rubbed it down, did you strip off all the original varnish using Paint Stripper or sanding machine,

you need to go back to the original wood then prime with a good primer Zinsser BIN then oil U/C and gloss.

 

[apsmith]

I didn't get back to the bare wood. I sanded it as hard as I could for as long as I could but the varnish was like a diamond coating. To be honest a lot of my sanding efforts seemed to almost be polishing the varnish!

Somebody told me that tile primer worked really on varnished wood. It obviously does not.

Feel like a bit of an idiot to be honest. Especially as it took me about 3 weeks to do and I thought I was being really diligent and doing it properly.

The thought of going back to the bare wood and starting again makes me feels a bit sick, but if (when) it happens again I will just have to accept it.

Thanks,

Adrian

 

[Chri5]

You could apply a two part epoxy finish.

 

[apsmith]

Could you please tell me a bit more or link me to a product?

Many thanks.

Adrian