will metal paint stick to wood?

[phil]

Just trying to fix up a fence at my parents property. I bought 20 pcs of 12 foot 1x6 and planed to paint it white. I went to the lumberyard but there was only water based paint and it is in the hot sun all the time. it is very dry arid there almost dessert. Since I couldn't get oil base for wood I got oil based metal paint in a gallon can. 38 bucks gulp..
I think it is poplar maybe spruce. the new wood is quite smooth from the planer. Id rather paint the boards and them put them up.

do I really need primer? do I need to fuzz up the wood by pressure washing or putting it outside or something to get a bite? I guess I should get primer but latex primer? I hate these new enviro water based products. Id get some oil based primer but all they had was latex

[Mick_VT]

yes you need to deglaze the wood, yes you will need primer, but your metal paint will likely be ok if you then do that. Kind of depends on whether the resin base is compatible with the primer. If you get an oil based primer you will likely be ok. Best not to try latex primer under oil

[lovesickest]

I painted my wood fence with oil based alkyd paint "for metal". Describing it as a Direct To Metal (DTM) paint seems to be the only legal way they can sell alkyd anything now. What the paint store dudes told me:

- pressure treated wood needs to thoroughly dry out before you paint or stain it. This means at least a year of exposure
- if you pressure wash the fence, then it needs to be thoroughly dry before you paint it (ie a week of dry hot days)

My experience with the DTM paint on wood was that applying it to bare, dry, unprimed old pressure treated wood(2 years+ exposure) made the paint act more like a stain - the wood soaks it right up. I found the Beautitone DTM paint I was using would get thick and gloppy by the bottom of the 750 ml plastic container I was using, that I had decanted my painting portion into. I added Penetrol to thin it which gave it more consistent performance. I like the matte stain-like appearance. If I second coated it, it would look more painty, solid. Due to the soaking in, I needed far more paint than I would have expected.

[phil]

I guess I might need to belt sand it at about 60 or 80 or pressure wash than sticker and stack it to dry, then primer it then paint it then put the boards on the fence. that's 3 days ( not full days) but 3 operations that can't happen together.

It isn't pressure treated wood. it is just the horizantal planks on a fence. its ranchland pretty much. sagebrush little cactus and tumbleweed. it won't see much rain but cold winters strong wind and hot hot sun it will see continuously

I'm trying to save steps because it is at our summer place at the lake so the only time I get there is when I make the trip and work days there are few and far between so that time is precious. The fence is on a really steep awkward kinda dangerous place to work so painting it, then putting it up would be so much easier than trying to paint it in place.

I wonder if linseed oil could take place of the primer? the white paint is Tremclad.Yea I guess I could use latex primer if I can't get oil based primer. Im not so concerned about what it looks like up close, I thought I might just roller it on.

[Sow's Ear Mal]

Hi there. According to Tremclad, You can use it on wood and primer is not required. That being said, that advice is based on perfect conditions, which are rarely found outdoors. The biggest cause of oil paint failure in my experience is the moisture content in the wood. Oil paint cannot allow water vapour to release through it, so it bubbles and lifts. Acrylic latex paint does allow water vapour transfer. Have you thought about a solid acrylic woodstain? I used it on my picket fence years ago and never had any issues. --Mal

[Mick_VT]

you can get fast drying exterior oil based primers. Sherwin Williams does one IIRC that dries in under an hour. You could start one end with primer and by the time you finished priming you could start back at the beginning with top coat.

[Vala]

Metal paint will stick to wood, I can attest to that personally. I only used oil paint on my exterior and the only oil paint sold was "metal only" it sticks just fine to wood, some say it will hold better than "wood paint". Since "metal only" paint has to be sticky enough to stick to non porous metal it should stick very well on a porous material such as wood from what I hear.

[jharkin]

Out of curiosity why do you want to use an oil base paint so badly?

I have my cedar fence painted in water base white siding stain over oil primer It gets full sun exposure and I have not had any problems to speak of other than in high traffic areas around the gate and such. Only had 3 years of weathering yet but so far so good.

Rule of thumb - latex over oil but not the other way around. I do still like and extensively use slow dry oil primer on exterior stuff to get a good water seal and well bonded base. In really tough applications like doors and windows go for two coats of primer or one blopturp coat and then a primer coat. Then latex top coat. Ive been told by the paint store guys that this gives you the best of both worlds - the durability and water seal of oil in the primer layer and then the flexibility of the acrylic topcoat resists cracking.

[Mick_VT]

That's what I do too, I prime with Ben Moore long oil (sometimes thinned a little with naptha), then caulk etc. then reprime with the same, followed by two or three coats of latex. On the front of our house that has full sun all day on a southern exposure after more than five years there is no sign of cracking or adhesion issues. The paint has faded just a tiny bit, but that is all.

[phil]

Out of curiosity why do you want to use an oil base paint so badly?

well actually I took some water based outdoor paint up there with me but needed primer, I went to buy primer but found they only had water based primer. I don't know everything but I don't have much confidence in water based finishes for outdoors and maybe it is something I am going to have to work towards.

I didn't start painting because the wood had spent a night out in the rain at the lumberyard although it is pobably actually fairly low in moisture content, the outside was wet when I got it .

since we often start jobs and as it is a shared place we can take over doing projects sometimes but I can't leave water based paint up there because it'll freeze and I couldn't be sure I'd be back before it did. Oil based paint doesn't seem to mind being stored where there isn't heat.