Staining MDF

[meydenhart]

Gill and I have been chatting about techniques to finish MDF. Gill uses two coats of sealer on the cut edges (sanding inbetween) before painting. Has anyone else used stain to finish MDF? This photo shows a stained version of the fruit & flowers project in the current issue. Light oak stain was used. I quite like the effect, but it has to be a light-coloured MDF, the stain does not show off too well on the darker coloured variety. Unfortunately light-coloured 1/4" MDF is very scarce on this side of the pond.

[Gill]

Just to clarify the conversation I've been having with Sue, when I paint MDF I apply two coats of an acrylic undercoat/primer which I buy from Wickes, one of the DIY sheds in the UK. I haven't seen this stuff available anywhere else but, reading a recent post by Neal Moore, I suspect it might be similar to artists' gesso. Anyway, I've got gallons of the stuff so I'm not hunting out an alternative right now !

The first coat raises any fibres that have been exposed during the preparatory sanding, so I give each segment a quick sanding with a medium grade of abrasive paper to knock them back, followed by a second coat of primer/undercoat. Then I apply paint, normally artists acrylic but I also use enamels and aerosol spray paints depending on the finish I'm trying to achieve. If I'm using acrylics, two coats are normally required and the whole piece is sprayed with an acrylic aerosol lacquer once it's been assembled.

I love the effect Sue's managed to achieve with her stains but I've never tried stains myself on MDF.

Gill

[CanadianScroller]

Sues effect looks like leather or a terra cotta glaze. I like that.

Gill, that technique sounds great. I had a crazy thought this morning while scanning a book.
I need to do a backsplash for my kitchen. I was thinking of using MDF tiles and completely sealing them before I attach them to the wall.

While I understand that MDF and water do not care for each other, if the tile is completely sealed I think it should work.

I would love to try staining some and seeing what results I get.
The thought was to inlay leaves into the square tiles and stain each leaf a different color.

[Gill]

You can get water resistant MDF, Carl, but it's pricey and it's black.

Gill

[utbva]

Sue, that does give an interesting effect to the MDF.

Sue and Gill, I would imagine that you would have to any bridges a bit thicker than with ply or they will break off, am I correct?

Carl, I would be careful using MDF around the kitchen sink. Unless the MDF is sealed until it is almost petrified or you don't splash any water onto the backplash, it is going to wick up water and swell. I put MDF crown molding up in a bathroom and it was primed and painted with high quality pant and it still absorbed enough moisture to cause it to swell.

[Gill]

Hi Bill

I use MDF extensively for my segmentation projects but if I was cutting portraits I'd probably choose either plywood or a close grained hardwood. MDF doesn't really have the structural integrity to lend itself to the finest work. Unless you're careful, the MDF can separate like layers of thick cardboard. Cutting the bow tie in my last segmentation project was a pretty tense affair. Furthermore, if you look at the male dancer's left arm, you'll see that there's actually a bridge which connects it to his abdomen, thus proving that you can get away with blue murder once in a while .

Once you've got paint on the fragile areas of the MDF, it does stiffen up; and gluing it to adjoining segments and backer board helps reinforce it wonderfully!

Gill

[utbva]

Hi Gill

That segmentation project is wonderful. I can see that MDF can look very good in some type of projects, especially when it is painted. I know that it sands very well. I do use a lot of MDF in remodeling projects, mostly for window cases and sills. It gives a very smooth surface for painting and if I need to round over edges with a router, it will sand smooth and blend in with the flat surface very well. So I do use a lot of MDF but I have never used it for fine detail work.

[meydenhart]

Mdf

Well, after chatting to Gill this morning I decided to use my 'peeping kitty' pattern to make a box/bin. As you can see some cuts are fairly detailed and I achieved a nice, clean cut edge. Now I just need to find some undercoat - would like to paint the project. Maybe I'll use spray paint...

[PuzzledMoose]

I love that pattern, Sue.

[utbva]

Sue, that is a beautiful pattern on the box. I have always found that spray painting MDF is must better than brush painting. I would put a primer coat on first and then the final coats. Be sure and show us the fininshed product.

[Gill]

It's a smashing project, Sue, and I hope you manage to achieve a nice finish. I can't wait to see the outcome.



Gill

[meydenhart]

With a few coats of cream spray paint...

[chrispuzzle]

That is so good, it makes me wonder whether anybody has gone all the way and attempted "trompe l'oeil" with scrolling - where you make a picture so realistic that people think it's real.

Chris

[Dragon]

That looks really good.
Diane

[Gill]

It certainly does look good, Sue . You managed to get the spray paint into all the nooks and crannies successfully? How did you prepare the project before spraying the top coat?

Gill