Thank You for your compliments. I once had a boss (sheetmetal background) who told me "You can teach a monkey to spray paint". My reply to him was "I guess that's why you could never learn!" We had to sand out and redo the majority of anything he attempted. It is not as easy as an accomplished person makes it look, but is a learnable (is that a word?) skill. A lot of it is "muscle memory" and experience, but even the best mess up occasionally, especially with a new coating or an unfamiliar spray gun.
My post was aimed at the basic skills and painting wood. If you are switching to shellac, lacquer or poly, the cardboard practice is advisable before messing up many hours of construction. Another tip: If you are going to paint metal or another non-porous surface, substitute a piece of plastic sheet for the cardboard (Aluminum foil also works). This could also apply after the first coat has sealed the wood. Even after over 30 yrs spraying, I always set up a test surface to make sure the gun is working right and is set for what I want to do. (With more experience the test surface gets smaller, but I still recommend it).
In the interest of brevity, I did not go into the safety aspects other than the respirator. If you are spraying anything that could possibly be flammable: PLEASE don't do it in an enclosed area where there are any ignition sources (ie gas water heaters, shop heaters, electric motors with open brushes, including battery powered drills and most electric hand sanders, routers, etc) and don't use these items in the spray area until the area has been cleared of fumes (so don't use a cheap window fan to blow the fumes out). And realize that flammable coatings leave highly flammable overspray after it dries. My workshop is my 2-car attached garage. I do not spray anything flammable/toxic in it, other than a small job using a spray can. I take it outside. My family means much more to me than any project I'm working on.
As you use a spray gun more, you may run into more problems, some with the coatings, some with the equipment, and some with the surface being sprayed. I will be glad to help out all I can. I am a novice at the characteristics of many of the woods mentioned on this forum (especially the exotics), but I have sprayed a variety of coatings successfully in a wide range of climatic conditions with many different types of equipment so between us we may be able to eliminate those variables.
With all the help I have gotten from this forum, I am definitely At your service:lol:
Go
My post was aimed at the basic skills and painting wood. If you are switching to shellac, lacquer or poly, the cardboard practice is advisable before messing up many hours of construction. Another tip: If you are going to paint metal or another non-porous surface, substitute a piece of plastic sheet for the cardboard (Aluminum foil also works). This could also apply after the first coat has sealed the wood. Even after over 30 yrs spraying, I always set up a test surface to make sure the gun is working right and is set for what I want to do. (With more experience the test surface gets smaller, but I still recommend it).
In the interest of brevity, I did not go into the safety aspects other than the respirator. If you are spraying anything that could possibly be flammable: PLEASE don't do it in an enclosed area where there are any ignition sources (ie gas water heaters, shop heaters, electric motors with open brushes, including battery powered drills and most electric hand sanders, routers, etc) and don't use these items in the spray area until the area has been cleared of fumes (so don't use a cheap window fan to blow the fumes out). And realize that flammable coatings leave highly flammable overspray after it dries. My workshop is my 2-car attached garage. I do not spray anything flammable/toxic in it, other than a small job using a spray can. I take it outside. My family means much more to me than any project I'm working on.
As you use a spray gun more, you may run into more problems, some with the coatings, some with the equipment, and some with the surface being sprayed. I will be glad to help out all I can. I am a novice at the characteristics of many of the woods mentioned on this forum (especially the exotics), but I have sprayed a variety of coatings successfully in a wide range of climatic conditions with many different types of equipment so between us we may be able to eliminate those variables.
With all the help I have gotten from this forum, I am definitely At your service:lol:
Go