 Today I'm going to be showing you how to get a finish like this on MDF Well I'm back to Gus with handyman in the Gus with handyman tips library I hope you're having a fantastic Saturday morning if you're watching this on the Saturday when it's just come out And if you're watching it at another time, I hope you're having a wonderful day First of all if you're new to the channel a massive welcome to you. It's awesome to have you here My name's Andy. I run a little joinery business up in Newcastle in the UK I've been making things out of wood for most of my life I don't profess to be an expert wood worker by any stretch of the imagination Most of what I make is kind of utilitarian stuff out of MDF and soft woods and stuff like that sometimes I get to work with hardwoods, but it's fairly few and far between to be honest Most stuff that people want these days is ultimately going to be I would say 99% of what I make is Built and designed to ultimately be painted white I know people will disagree in the comments about this But if a far-zam concerned there's no better material to work with if you're going to be painting it then MDF It's highly stable doesn't suffer from the same sort of contraction and expansion problems that you get with Real wood it paints really really well It's easy to work with you don't have grain showing through the paint and other than the fact that when you cut it You get kind of not just dust that probably will kill you if you inhale it other than that It's just a pleasure to work with I repeatedly see people either panicking about painting it or Making a right hash of it. So I thought it would be nice to just give you a few tips on how to deal with MDF And how to paint it and how to get a really nice finish edge grain on MDF. Don't get as wrong You can get a better finish if you want to really push the boat for example I'm not going to get into spray painting. I don't have the room to spray paint But you could push it to that level if you want and go for a spray to finish you can do things obviously like edge banding I think edge banding on MDF is far too much hassle for the benefit that you get and too many times I've seen the edge banding coming off over time edge banding by the way is this stuff If you can kind of see and that gets Ironed on to the edge of the MDF and as you iron on the glue melts and It sticks on and then you trim off any excess and you can get machines that do it You can actually get industrial machines for edge banding if it starts to come off It just looks terrible. It's just not worth the hassle That's a perfectly good finish I've got on the edge of there without any sort of filler or edge banding or anything if you want to know more about Alternative treatments because you can also use a filler on the edge as well and that works really well Again, it's not worth the hassle But you can do that if you want if you want a really really ultra smooth edge I'm not going to bother putting a video together because Charlie DI white I'll put a link in the description. He's done an excellent video comparing all the different treatments of MDF edge grain. He generally agrees with me that the easiest solution Is what I'm going to suggest in this video without further ado Let's get on with it and show you how it paint MDF properly. You're gonna need a good acrylic primer. I use Layland I'm not being sponsored by them or anything. I just find this works really well I also use Layland fast drying gloss. It's not as shiny as some other gloss paint. It's easy to work with and It gives a level of finish that I'm happy with and my customers are happy with more importantly use whatever brand of paint You want I use paint that I'm comfortable with and once I've hit on a brand that I'm happy with I generally stick to it Unless I'm having problems anyway, let's crack on. I've got a synthetic brush a Delta T-Class Brush which you've probably seen as used before dead cheap nothing special nice fine bristles. We've got Form roller again. These are dead cheapest chips, but because you use and bought the base paints They're easy to clean as well. So this is a one that I've used loads of times It's still got plenty life and it absolutely fine if you want to throw them in the bin fine I'm far too tight for that and in case you're not aware they just slip off and you can put new ones on I have a damp cloth and I have my acrylic primer Undercoat the thing that I'm going to show you is a panel door kind of mockup that I've made and this gives Almost every scenario of all the different problems that you're likely to run into when you're painting MDF because we've got face green we've got edge green and We've got the panel molding cut out which is kind of a combination of face grain and edge grain This can be kind of the most problematic thing that you might run into But again when you know how it's dead easy, so don't don't panic So the first thing that I'm going to do obviously this has already sanded and all ready for paint Just giving it a quick blow down with the air gun obviously if you don't have an air gun you can just blow it but this does a bit of a better job And then I'm just going to give it a light Wipe down with a damp cloth this raises the grain a little bit just make sure that it's Nice and clean and ready for paint. Let's slap some paint on this I'm going to start with the edges and I'll do the roller After this is a brand new pot of paint if it's an older pot just watch with the water-based paints because Any paint that kind of builds up around the rim here because it dries so quickly those bits once they do dry Can just crack off and fall into the paint you end up with lumps in your paint So if you are finding that you're getting lumps in your paint you can Siv your paint either through a paint sieve or a household sieve or even you can use like probably a pair of Tights or a pair of socks or something like that. I'm sure you can sieve it through anything Just to get the lump out. This is a brand new pot so we should be fine I'm actually going to do the edges first on this I think you know Just make life a little bit easier And all I'm going to do here. I'm just going on the back side of it And I'm you see how we get these little kind of tram lines of paint around the edge. I'm just going to Smooth those out. I'm not going to show you paint in the back of this but You would go over that obviously when you come to paint the back So I'm going to just do this middle kind of panel section here first Now that I've done the edges again These are the most awkward bits because it kind of absorbs the paint like a sponge So you might need a little bit more paint Not too much though. You want enough to cover it And no more You certainly at this stage We're not aiming for the wood to be turning white We're aiming for everything to have a really nice even coat of the undercoat What color it is at this point I don't care. Quite a thin coat of anything Just going over these edges again to get any kind of thick bits of paint off the edge And obviously for a small door Like this Whether or not you would bother with a roller Maybe you would just brush the whole thing But I'm going to show you How to get a spray paint finished with a roller You see this little kind of blob of paint here you don't want to leave anything like that That will show through on the final surface. So I'm just now going around all these edges just checking to have left any runs or blobs Let's just want a nice thin coat of the undercoat again little blobs of paint. Let's just brush them out And then we'll roll these sections. You know we can get a paint tray out and all that We can just use your brush to load some paint on to the piece That will work. This is a completely dry roller. So it's going to suck up this paint really quick at the minute So we might need to put a bit more on Once your roller has got some paint on it It's much easier at the moment. This roller is dry. Okay So that's actually gone un-fine So all I've done here Is I've got an even coat the paint on and now I'm just going over it really lightly with the roller just to leave a nice finish Really? That's it We're not aiming for perfect coverage at the minute if your piece is bright white at this stage Then I would be worried because you've probably put too much paint on At this stage it shouldn't be white. It should be a kind of off-browny grey color Because it takes a good three coats of paint to cover MDF and make it turn white and in fact for any paint One coat primer two coats final coat is your general Ruler thumb that's it Just going to leave it just double check Whether or not I've managed to Muck up the panels which I think I've caught the roller there a little bit Generally that's fine I would rather not have a brushmark down there if possible. Let's make this light ultra amazing Get it covered and then lay it off Gently with the roller just to get your perfect finish. So I'm I look I'm hardly putting any weight on that roller at all You could literally you could lay it off lay it off is where you go over it with a dry brush or roller to get your brush marks out No, what's this No, okay here. I don't know if you can see it. Let me just zoom in I thought that that was actually a lump in the paint It's where the surface the grain of the MDF has started to Rise very slightly and that can happen when you paint MDF you know what it is Unless you this isn't moisture resistant MDF by the way. This is just normal MDF But it's fine find the paint moisture resistant You tend to get less problems with the grain raising But honestly, I'm going to show you that that's not going to turn into a problem So we're just going to leave this to dry now Right, so this is hard A couple of hours to dry now probably two three hours to dry I would have said it does dry a lot quicker than that But we'll want this to be Bone dry for this next bit because this is probably the K bit in Working with MDF that people don't bother with and this will make all the difference between having a good finish and a mediocre finish once it's bone dry We just need to give mainly the Edge grain and any kind of combination grain like this we just need to give it a very very light sand now I've got just an old bit of me Or a bit of sand here This is an old piece it's 120 but it is used so it's probably close at maybe 150 or even 200 out I would say and all I'm doing is just giving a light rub Honestly not much and it's just to knock back The grain a little bit because the paint has has just raised the surface of the grain very slightly And all I want to do is knock that back If you've got any bits that are tricky to get into what you can do is just wrap a bit of sandpaper around a filling knife like that And then you can get into all these little grooves Honestly Two swipes is enough you don't want to take the paint off you just want to Bring the grain down again So I'm going to just do that all the way around Only really on the edge grain and kind of combination face grain set we're going to have to do this on If you want we'll have got a tiny bit of grain raised on here and feel it And if you want you can give that a very very light rub but not too much You can also try steel wool instead of sandpaper if you find a sandpaper's not getting into all the corners give steel wool a try You can feel when it's done Little bit on the edge grain here again. You know the grain's not come up that much This isn't moisture resistant MDF. This is just normal MDF It's not bad at all. Shouldn't be taking any longer than I would say five minutes if this was a cabinet door No more than five minutes if that That's no perfectly smooth It's hard hard for you to say but that's really really smooth that'll paint lovely What I always say is if you can feel Faults in the paintwork you'll see it just going to give it another quick blow with the air gun Another quick wipe down just with a damp cloth Not wet damp and we're ready for our top coats. You can watch my other video where I've had a bit of a more detailed look at different water-based gloss paints I really like this layland one but you know You like whichever brand you get used to using this particular paint. I think this is a one where it says don't stir Do not stir exactly the same as before Since that brush again another tea class brush. I've got the one inch brush now This is where with this particular water-based gloss you've got to work quick name up and about with this one. So I'm gonna get straight on the edge first Really quickly get the paint on So I've got a nice even coat painted on Layered off with a slightly once the brush is a little bit dry This edge as well It's a little bit awkward because I'm trying to make sure that you can actually see it in the camera The camera is standing exactly where I want to be stood. So I'm at a weird kind of angle trying to paint this at the minute I'm just getting any excess paint off my brush here. Okay, so you're wondering why I'm putting paint on the top So I don't want too much just a thin coat that'll do same as before just get any tram lines And runs off the back edge so we don't have to otherwise you're just gonna have to sand them off If you want because I am conscious that I haven't actually undercoded this edge. I obviously Obviously what you would have done by now is you would have undercoded both the back and Front I'm just wiping it down with a cloth. I just really want to make sure I haven't got any big blobs of paint on that side Quick coat on this molding As I say with this water-based Gloss you need to work quick The wise your wet edge disappears very quickly And then same as before for the top coat you can use like a fluffy roller like this Always find with these they always leave bits of fluff in the paint and I get really angry so I'm Back to a foam roller again. It's not even a brand new roller that will be fine Get a bit paint on Again, ideally You would be using a roller that's already primed with paint but this one isn't so Just make it get the roller charged up with paint a bit If you haven't let your primer dry for long enough, this is the point where You could end up taking some of your primer off with the top coat so you'll soon know whether or not you've left your primer long enough I would say a good two to three hours minimum if you want you can always go over it with a hair dryer To accelerate the drying But you don't want it to dry out too quickly otherwise it doesn't get a good bond with the surface that needs painted You see that You can see it It's already looking Plenty people would leave it at that It does definitely need another coat It's going to put a little bit extra paint on this is way it and start to be a bit more Liberal with the paint if you want just a little bit not too much Because from here the grain on the MDF isn't really going to raise any more than it's already done The primer has done its job. It's sunk into the paint. It's formed a good base To get our Finish coats on as I say this would have been a bit quicker had I primed the roller in advance which I haven't so All I'm going to do here very very quickly Do a little bit extra on the outer edges Again, not just kind of if there's any Globs of paint that have started to form I'm happy with that So I'm just going to leave that now we'll come back to it very shortly And again just watch out for bits you see these sort of bits Just watch that they don't fall into your paint because over time It can kind of all build up on this edge And once that starts Falling into your paint you've got problems and you can end up having to save your paint because honestly You'll be picking out lumps from your paint for the rest of time Depend on how much paint you're getting through obviously if you're getting through a lot of paint then It's less of a problem But over time all these little bits fall into your paint and you get lumps and you have to pick them out And it's a nightmare so just try not to get any of these in the actual paint Right so the first coat of the gloss is pretty much dry where it is completely dry now All I'm going to do is get a very light Go over with a cloth Just to make sure this no kind of bits of dust falling on it or anything like that that will do Now Some people recommend painting onto the wet surface like that I haven't had And particular success Painting onto a damp surface I prefer to paint on to a dry surface If you find paint on your wet surface works that's fine Right and now final coat Again, I'm just going to start on This edge this time and everything else I'm now just going to do with the roller Plenty paint on this coat Because this is our final coat the MDF is well sealed now So I don't need to worry as much about putting on too much paint other than just looking for Runs and that sort of thing but the water-based paint because it dries so quickly It doesn't really run very much at all I've found certainly not compared to oil-based The faster the paint dries, the less runs you're going to get but also the faster the paint dries The harder it is to get a nice finish so it's a bit of a kind of Double edge sword and a bit of just takes a bit practice really if you're doing This probably you would have a paint tray for your ruler but I'm just showing you how easy this is Gonna lay that off in a minute don't panic Quickly do the edges Oh and I've got enough on me roller maybe haven't Can you see how we've got this little tram line of paint long there that's what happens when you just Press a bit too hard on the roll and with squeezed the paint around the corner basically so I'm just laying that off again Just to remove that mark That is pretty much as perfect as you're going to get it Again, you could also you could sand between your coats of Gloss if you really really want to push for the most perfect finishing it and possibly get but you know Double check that I've not left any Runs in here but to be honest. We're almost at the point where this paint's drying already Leave that dry and that's gonna pretty much do it I know I've called this a must-a-class, but that's just clickbait really all I want to do is show you What I've learned over the years of working with MDF and give you a few Hopefully helpful tips obviously and push this as far as you want in terms of getting the ultimate finish on MDF But I'm trying to keep it to the best practical finish that you can get without Going down the route of either making it prohibitively expensive or using tools and materials that you just Generally aren't going to be in your average workshop But honestly don't stress about painting MDF here's a bootcase I made a couple of weeks ago This bit on the right is face grain MDF this bit next to it is edge grain MDF and there's virtually no difference at all So there you go. I hope you found this useful have a fantastic Saturday if you're watching this on a Saturday If you're watching it on another day well have a fantastic whatever day it currently is if you're new at the channel Welcome to gossip handyman thanks for watching have a wonderful weekend or week or day or year or month or whatever I'll see you next time You