Cost effective, water resistant finish?

[Bob Savage]

Hello,

I posted this in the CNC section since that's where I primarily live, but realized this is probably the best place for this post.

I have a product that I'm going to begin offering soon which is a growler carrier (growlers are generally 1/2 gallon jugs of beer). Many microbreweries have tasting rooms and offer growler refills, but the growlers aren't easy to transport because they roll all over the place during transport, plus many people have more than one growler so I'm offering a 2 and soon, 4 growler carrier.

They're made from 3/4" Baltic Birch ply and I'm looking for a cost effective way to coat/paint them to help protect them against moisture, etc. I've had a few coated with the Line-X product that's used for truck beds and while it's very durable, it's not inexpensive and I'm not thrilled with the way it looks.

I'm looking for input on different coatings/paint that I could use to protect these, but keep the cost down as well since the plywood ones need to be economical (I'm doing hardwood as well). Additionally, I'd like something that's thick enough so that the ply layers around the edges aren't obvious.

Any ideas? If it's a simple process, I can do them myself but I'm also not opposed to sending them off to a specialty coating shop as long as I can keep the coating cost per each down to about $10-$15 max.

Thanks

[Scott Holmes]

Oil based trim paint. Slow dry but worth it.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Oil based trm paint s getting harder and harder to find any more.
Rustoleum will work also & it's pretty much available at any borg.

[Bob Savage]

Thanks for the input gents.

Oil based trm paint s getting harder and harder to find any more.
Rustoleum will work also & it's pretty much available at any borg.

Does Rustoleum come in only aerosol? I'm thinking I should brush on because with the ply edges sometimes sprays don't get into little areas and make the small voids look worse. I'm using high quality baltic birch, but am still concerned about the look of the edges if it's not brushed on.

[Scott Holmes]

Use a grain filler on the edges of the ply. You are correct BB ply is pretty nice, but can absorb a bit more paint. Rustoleum comes in 1/2 pints, pints, quarts and gallons.

[Bob Savage]

Use a grain filler on the edges of the ply. You are correct BB ply is pretty nice, but can absorb a bit more paint. Rustoleum comes in 1/2 pints, pints, quarts and gallons.

Yes, fortunately there are very few voids in this BB ply so filling won't be time consuming. I'm also cutting them with a 1/2" router bit and ramping the entire cut so that should help keep the edges nice too.

Thanks for the tip on Rustoleum.

[Curt Harms]

I'm not sure if it would take too long but I'd think bondo would hide ply edges nicely and moisture would not be an issue. I used lightweight spackle on some painted plywood edges. It produced a really nice painted surface but I doubt spackle would be water resistant.

[Scott Holmes]

Bondo is an excellent choice.

[Bob Savage]

So I've tried a couple things since posting this thread. The first was exterior paint. Aside from it being too sticky after drying it was just too much of a hassle to brush on.

I switched and bought some Penofin exterior oil based stain which I really like because I can slop it on, it looks nice but here's the problem, my part smells like a skunk and it's not seeming to dissapate enough where I could sell these.

Have any of you encountered anything like this?

My next step will probably be to try the Behr waterproofing stain and cross my fingers that it's not skunky too.

Any other suggestions? At this point I think paint is out because spraying doesn't seem to get into every little nook and cranny and brushing is too time consuming. Brushing the stain, however, does cover nicely.

[Prashun Patel]

What kind of exterior paint did you use? My guess is you used a latex, which will remain sticky and flexible.

If it were me, I'd switch from BB to poplar. This will eliminate the cost/effort of filling the edges.

I still think paint is the best choice. Personally, I'd just use a spray can of Rustoleum enamel. It's plenty durable, goes on evenly and sprays well and dries quickly. A single can is all you'll need per carrier.

To the extent that you can pre-prime or pre-finish the panels of yr carrier, you'll save additional time.

I get the best paint results on wood when I prime first with a shellac-based primer or even just shellac, then sand, then paint.

[Bob Savage]

What kind of exterior paint did you use? My guess is you used a latex, which will remain sticky and flexible.

If it were me, I'd switch from BB to poplar. This will eliminate the cost/effort of filling the edges.

I still think paint is the best choice. Personally, I'd just use a spray can of Rustoleum enamel. It's plenty durable, goes on evenly and sprays well and dries quickly. A single can is all you'll need per carrier.

To the extent that you can pre-prime or pre-finish the panels of yr carrier, you'll save additional time.

I get the best paint results on wood when I prime first with a shellac-based primer or even just shellac, then sand, then paint.

You're correct, it was latex. I'm actually finding the BB has no significant voids on the edges so I'm good to go there, in fact, I've found a good balance of feeds and speeds to where I don't even need to sand the exterior edges. To get rid of the sharp edges and fuzzies around the edge I'm using a 1/8" roundover on my table router which has eliminated the need to sand anywhere except for the handle, which I of course want to be nice and smooth.

Thanks for the input.