As warmer weather approaches it is time to finish up our front porch. Most of the work will be enjoyable but the one daunting task is painting the 180 wooden spindles for the railing. Anyone have tips, ideas, suggestions etc. to make this task easier? We're shooting for one main color with perhaps one or two additional colors for some of the turned rings [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Rob
Rob,
We had a similar situation. The only color we used was white. The only thing I did to make this daunting task easier for me , was let the wife paint the porch. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Argee [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
<font color="blue"> let the wife paint the porch </font color>
LOL Argee. Actually, that is part of my plan. Trouble is, she already knows how bad this is going to be as she primed all the T&G floorboards and did most of the painting on the posts. I figure if I can come up with a few slick tricks she'll practically volunteer for the job [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]
When we painted the posts (also turned) I rigged up a fixture to spin the posts while we (mostly she) painted. That really helped for the rings and such. We ended up with about six different colors on the posts. I want to do something similar for the spindles but I'm tempted to make the "spinner" more automated with a quick load/unload. Not exactly how to do it just yet but I figure even several hours on my part could save many times that with so many spindles to paint [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Rob
Rob,
When you say "spinner", does that mean you haven't assembled the porch railing yet? If that's the case, a spinner could be as easy as cutting 2 round circles of plywood (real easy to do on a table saw) and notch the center of them to fit your balustrades. That way you could set up the production table for your wife, while you get on with other important tasks such as, doing anything with the tractor. More seat time, is in many parts of the country considered therapy. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Argee [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
<font color="blue"> Anyone have tips, ideas, suggestions etc. to make this task easier? </font color>
Spray 'em. Rig up your "spinner" and find a place where overspray won't be too obnoxious. If you go HVLP it isn't as bad. If you have an air compressor (you don't need huge output), pick up an inexpensive spray gun (Harbor Frieght's $14.99 special works fine).
If not, it'd probably be worth your while to rent a decent sized airless sprayer (easy to use). I was told that Home Depot will loan you one if you buy enough paint from them. Or even buy one of the little Wagner airless sprayers (which I don't like, but some folks swear by them).
But for stuff like that (uneven surfaces) spraying is the way to go. You wouldn't be able to do your trim colors that way (masking would be too much of a pain), but it will make your base coat go much faster.
BTW, I make my wife do all the trim painting. It is so much easier than doing it myself (and she's more patient than me so it turns out a lot better) [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] .
...Chris
not sure how this would work with different colors, but when the boys were painting my fence posts, they had a cloth mit that they would just dip into the paint can (5 gallon cans) and then just rub the postd with the mit...worked like a charm and didnt waste much paint
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