What is the best primer sealer for MDF?

Zinsser B-I-N White Shellac-Based Interior/Spot Exterior Primer and Sealer Is what I find works best.

I originally purchased this to use for a white base to make the color pop. Previously I use white acrylic paint on top of shellac. It worked pretty good but using the shellac based primer I get a white base and sealer in one step.

Shellac is compatible with just about any finish. It will seal pine knots. This primer is used for a sealer when repairing smoke damage after a fire.

I just did a test on an MDF Play Pal minivan. One coat was all it took.

I get it at Home Depot in the paint department.

 

Using Double Sided Tape For Sandiing Duplicate Wooden Toy Car Parts

Using Double Sided Tape to Hold Wooden Toy Car Fenders Together for Sanding

I use double sided carpet tape to hold these fenders together for sanding so they will be as close to identical as I can make them. I use a 1x42 inch belt sander and a delicate touch for the outside curves and a spindle sander for the inside curves.  The rest of the edges are done by hand using files and sandpaper.

I'm not making any attempt to color match the wood. It's going to be sealed and painted, so the color doesn't matter.  The little bit of purple paint will get sanded off.

Because these are made from pine construction lumber, they are very easy to break while sanding. If I break a fender, it gets tossed into the kindling bucket, and I need to make another pair. Once the fenders get glued on, they are quite strong.

Below is a completed toy car.

Handmade Wooden Toy Car -  Bad Bob Custom Motors Coupe - Green and Yellow

Sanding The Last Car Body

Handmade Wooden Car Body - Final Hand Sanding

I started this batch of cars almost a year ago and got sidetracked by other things.

I originally started this as a project for my grandson after he asked me to make one he saw in a photo. John Leman at ToyMalingPlans.com made a set of plans for me.

Here is the original Bad Bob's Custom Motors Coupe.

Hand Made Wooden Toy Car - Bad Bob's Custom Motors Coupe - Green and Yellow

Etsy shop:
http://odinstoyfactory.etsy.com

#odinstoyfactoy #Tallahassee #Florida #handmade #handcrafted #woodentoys

Do you use acrylic primer?

Brush Painted Wooden Toy Car - Hot Rod Freaky Ford - 32 Deuce Coupe - MDF - Blue - Black - Gold

I tried an acrylic primer once. It was such a pain to sand that I never did it again. I've tried all sorts of methods for painting wood and MDF including using automotive primer filler I had left over. As far as I can tell it doesn't make any difference.  If I want to seal the material, I use shellac for the base coat. If I'm using a color that doesn't cover well I use white for the first coat or two.

No matter what finish I use, I apply at least two layers of finish sanding between each layer.  The first seals and makes the fuzzies stiff so the sandpaper can smooth the surface. If I get an acceptable finish, I stop at the second coat. If not, I continue to paint and sand until I am satisfied with the result.

I have tried just about every method I can find for applying finishes to my toys. The best I have used so far is spraying with an airbrush. I don't have a spray booth and need to spray outdoors. Painting outdoors is very dependent on weather conditions. Therefore, I use a brush to paint most of my toys. This one is brush painted with Behr acrylic house paint. Oops paint I purchased from Home Depot for $0.50 with no primer coat.

Painted With An Ait Brush - 20181003-202131 482476086 Wooden Toy Car Hot Rod Deuce Coupe From the Hot Rod Freaky Ford Series Pink

Spray Booth For Painting Toys

Spray booths need venting outside., Unless you like brain damage.

I researched this subject a while back and experimented with some cardboard box with a fan and filters. Even with the box fan and filters, I got paint dust all over the shop. This method doesn't filter out fumes. I was using acrylic paint, so I was not concerned about fire. I would not use this configuration to spray solvent based finishes.

If you re spraying outdoors that is a different matter altogether. I know someone who lets his the truck tailgate down and covers the back of his truck with a blue tarp to use for painting.  I have a table I make from saw horses to use when painting outdoors.  I don't use a backstop or a cover on the table. It's getting colorful.

The inexpensive spray booths they sell on eBay and else where are very small and ineffective.  Worst of all they use proprietary filters.

Larger commercial spray booths are available but, they cost prohibitive for a small shop and also use expensive challenging to find filters.

A DIY spray booth is the best alternative I could find. You need one that will spray anything including flammable finishes, filter out the paint overspray with relatively inexpensive, easy to find filters, and exhaust all the fumes outdoors. This DIY spray booth is the best I found. It's on my todo list.

 

 

Build Your Own Paint Spray Booth For Painting Toys

Simple Puzzles for Toddlers - Part 5

I don't use spring clamps very much. They are not adjustable and always seem to clamp too hard or too little. Plastic spring clamps will slip easily out of place. I have tried to develop some way to make the jaws less slippery, but I have been unsuccessful so far.

Handmade Wooden Toy Puzzle Ready To Glue Up Butterfly

For clamping the backs onto my handmade tray puzzles, the spring clamps are almost perfect. They have just the right amount of pressure and no slipping. One of the best things is that they don't take up much room. When you are making a lot of puzzles, you can easily stack them while the glue cures.

 Best of all they are cheap. These spring clamps cost about $1.00 each at Harbor Freight.

 See the completed puzzles at the links below:

Toddlers Puzzle, Rooster, Chicken
Toddlers Puzzle, Butterfly, Very Easy Assembly
Toddlers Puzzle, Bunny Rabbit
Toddlers Cat Puzzle

Which Finish Should I Use On My Toys?

It's not a simple choice when you intend to sell them or even give them away. You have to consider the age of the person the toy is designed for. There are several finishes to choose from when finishing wooden toys.

• Drying Oils
• Non-Drying Oils
• Polyurethane
• Shellac
• Paint

There may be others, but these are the ones I have used.

If I am making a toy intended for a child under three years old that puts everything in their mouth and likes to chew on things No finish at all is probably the best choice. These toys should be very simple and made from woods like hard maple. Although ti its used by many toymakers, I would not put any sort of oil on these toys.

In my totally unscientific testing, I find that kids will almost always go for the painted toys. I have seen a few exceptions to this, but not many. Where the kids get to look at the toys, the painted toys may rule the day. If selling online adults are usually the shoppers. They seem to like to see the wood grain, but not always. I have had customers tell me that they prefer the rustic look. Then there is what colors to use. If you want to sell your toys, you have to pick colors that someone you do not know will like.


For kids three years old and up, my target market. My rule is anything but non-drying oil finishes is good. All of the finishes are nontoxic when cured.

In my online store and in social media that gets the most views is a pine bodied hot rod finished with shellac. It is rapidly overtaken by a pinewood car finished with polyurethane. Being sure what drives these things is very difficult. In this case, I think that the photography may have something to do with it. The difference is quite significant. Within the first week, it passed the longstanding top listing that had been there for more than a year.

32 Ford Sedan Hot Rod finished with amber shellac, and a bit of acrylic paint is the current leader for the last 12 months in my Etsy shop.

A Hot Rod 27 T-Coupe is the up and coming challenger poised to overtake the leader after only a short time.

My top five listings are a mix of polyurethane, shellac, paint and unfinished toys. I know this is not really a scientific method, but I work with the data that I have. Recently I posted a link to a painted car I was making on my Pinterest board. After the posting, my Pinterest views went up by more than 300k. I have a suspicion that this one will upset the apple cart. How did I pick the colors? I didn't, my grandson picked colors that I never would have chosen.

Wooden Toy Car - Bad Bob Motors Coupe - Amber Shellac - Green - Yellow

Confused yet. I am.

My current take on all of this is that it depends. I work a lot with pine. If the grain looks nice, I will use polyurethane. Otherwise, it will get paint or shellac. When I make custom orders, I make extras. Just in case one is damaged or broken I have more than one and I don't need to start over. Sometimes one of these will have some beautiful grain. I will save that one to finish with polyurethane. Playsets pretty much demand paint. Toys made from MDF always get painted. I never apply any of the wood blocks I make and would not use any kind of finish on blocks.

Finishing toys are difficult. You may find that finishing is the most time consuming and difficult part of making toys.  It's a complicated issue. I have only touched the surface of.  I have more posts planned to discuss it.