Epifanes gloss

[chris pearson]

I absolutely love Epifanes paint. Flows like no other. But….gloss is almost too glossy. I block sand down to 320 before final coats. I use Rustoleum as “filler” coats and am wondering if it’s causing a problem that is bugging me. As I know these things aren’t car fenders and will never be perfect, I am always refining and challenging myself to do better. See the images and notice the “ripples”. Now, I will note that you cannot feel these with your hand. I push customers towards satin Epifanes more and more because of this. I use Rollins filler as well so I know it’s tried and true. Perhaps I’m being too critical but it still drives me bananas! I’m wondering is the rust inhibitors in the Rustoleum are maybe causing this so to eliminate that possibility I’m trying another paint to see if that helps. Oh, also use petit high build primer over the filler first….

 

[MGC]

I have occasionally chosen to use a flattener but for this canoe, the glossy appearance is fine. Its red. Red is a not a shy color. When I drive around in my Guards Red car, I'm not pretending it is anything but a bright red and (if it's clean) shiny car. I see the same here. The ripples do not show in these images, so that looks quite perfect.
I love the choice to use a matte finish on the wood. To my eye, that always looks much better on a restoration than high gloss on old wood.
It looks good.

 

[Dave Wermuth]

Your work is amazing. And you continue to develop it to a higher level. I am inspired to do better.

 

[ReedLeb]

Beautiful work Chris!
Sometimes I feel the high gloss is a bit too much, I like a bit flatter finish on most of my woodworking projects, floors, etc.
I'm also planning on Epifanes topside enamel, probably deep red.
What flattener have you had good luck with?
I assume high gloss for all preliminary coats, only the final coat gets the flattener?

 

[chris pearson]

I order it flattened from Epifanes. I’m all ears with flattener suggestions and ratios?

 

[chris pearson]

Also, the dimples are evident in my original high res photos but the forum cuts sharpness down…