help using ACE Cabinet paint

9 years ago

I decided to repaint my original (1950s) cabinets with ACE cabinet paint. The ACE guy told me the technology was virtually the same as BM cabinet paint. The cabinets had previously been painted a dark gray, and I was going white, so I painstakingly primed with two coats of BM primer, sanding in between. I removed doors to paint them flat.

I have now painted the frames and started to paint the doors. The frames look pretty good, but I learned very quickly that I had some technique problems with this paint. As others have commented, it is extremely thin (self leveling) and looks awful while it is drying. Even with meticulous attention to avoiding drips, the frames still show lots of directional brush marks. Maybe that's just the problem of going with a white color--the shadows are easy to see.

Here's where I need advice on technique: I put a coat on one of the doors, and the brush strokes are *very* visible on such a large flat surface. I'm not talking about the individual bristle marks, but rather where one stroke blends up into the next.

I am using a Purdy XL brush, and my technique is to dip the tip of the brush, touch one side of the bristles to the side of the can, and then to apply that side of the bristles (the non-loaded side) to the surface. I try to paint in long strokes.
However, the paint doesn't cooperate. It doesn't flow very smoothly, and usually all of the paint collects where I first contact the brush to the surface. This requires me to do lots of brushing to move the paint around, blending back in to the part that is already painted. Or I end up loading more on to the brush so that there is enough paint and I don't have to redip the brush almost immediately.

I think all this working over the surface to get it coated is also leading to more brush strokes. I read somebody say that with this paint you never want to touch it more than 60 seconds after you've applied it, to use very long smooth strokes...but I have no idea how I would accomplish that given how it doesn't like to flow/blend smoothly.
Are there others who have used this ACE self-leveling Cabinet and Trim paint who can advise?

I've had to do at least three coats of the white on the frames, so I'm expecting to do the same on the doors. Should I be sanding between each coat? I did a light scuff sand on the frames.
Thanks!

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Comments (3)

paintguy22
9 years ago
With any modern day acrylics, it's just impossible to brush out a large surface without experiencing what you are talking about. And, 60 seconds is too long to be going back into an area that you have already brushed out. I would say you only have about 15 seconds. You can extend this working time with some extender though. What you should do for doors is roll them, and then brush the paint out. The roller gets the paint on faster. Personally, I do not back brush the paint, but you can experiment. It depends on the paint too. Some paints level better than others. I use BM Aura for cabinets and a 4" Pro Dooz 3/8" cover and there is barely any visible roller stipple showing. A lot of this depends on technique too, as DIY painters tend to not put enough paint on and then play with it too much during application. The secret to getting paint to lay down the best is by putting it on heavy so that the paint dries down into itself, but not so heavy so that it drips and sags and also putting the paint on quickly and then staying away from it. It takes practice and even with that, todays paints are not user friendly at all so it can be frustrating.
Colin Dingler
Original Author
9 years ago
thanks, Paintguy. This is very valuable advice. I wondered about using a roller for the doors, but the ACE guy told me that a brush would be fine. I'm going to try the roller. Your comment about not using enough paint is interesting--I don't really know if I'm going too heavy or too light, but it sounds like I'm probably going too light. I had watched a video about painting technique online that made me think I was actually going too heavy at first, because I was dipping the brush pretty far in and not smoothing one side of the bristles off on the edge of the can. But on my cabinets that I've painted so far, you can definitely see places where the paint is much smoother, and I think those may be where I put down a lot more paint all at once, and the paint probably leveled into itself, as you describe.

So one final question: in the places with brush marks on the frames that I've already painted, could I do a light sanding and go over with a roller using the cover that you recommend? Or is that going to make matters worse?

thanks
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paintguy22
9 years ago
It shouldn't make it worse to apply another coat, but sanding lightly probably won't remove brush marks either, unless they are really bad. Also, a lot of people use the roller just to get the paint on fast and then brush out the paint. I have never used Ace cabinet paint, so I don't know how well it levels. Try rolling and leaving the stipple and see how it flattens out and try rolling and brushing the paint out and see which technique looks better. Some people would rather have brush marks than roller stipple.