Thickening agent for oil based paint or polyurethane

[robert raess]

I am using a technique of sanding different thicknesses of oil paint of differing color,so when i sand to final level there will be patterns of diff. colors....I need some type of thickening agent for oil based paint.It would be nice if it would thicken pigmented shellac. Thanks Rob

[Scott Holmes]

Paint or shellac? For shellac just mix a heavier cut. As for thickening why not just apply multiple coats to double or triple the dry thickness?

[Rich Engelhardt]

It would be nice if it would thicken pigmented shellac

For obvious reasons - I don't recommend you do this.
Having said that...
A common practice among professional painters & one that I also practiced back when I had my own painting company - was to simply let the alcohol in the pigmented shellac evaporate and thicken up on it's own.

We have an abundance of older houses that all have T&G wooden soffits. Nearly every one of them has paint that is checked and a mix of loose and tightly adhering paint.
We'd open the BIN cans first thing on the first day, pour half off into a bucket with a wide mouth and let it stand while we set up the drops and started on other prep work.

By the time we hit the ladders to go high, the BIN was thick enough to work.

BIN, unlike clear shellac, doesn't seem to care if it goes on almost a trowelable consistency.


Like I say though - I can't recommend doing it,,,just that I along with a whole bunch of others did it on a regular basis.

[Jamie Buxton]

I use this stuff http://www.westsystem.com/ss/407-low-density-filler/ for thickening epoxy. With it, you can thicken epoxy from its native watery consistency up to a paste, without affecting its ability to bond. I've never tried it on paint, but I'd expect it to work.

[Prashun Patel]

tell me more about what you want to accomplish. I've done the technique of applying oil paints and sanding through; it did not require any thickening; just artful sanding and a heat gun.

[robert raess]

Why do i need a thick coat? To imbed an object of various sizes or texture into the thickened wet paint. This will leave an imprint.You remove object while paint is wet. Add more coats of complimentary colors using the same technique , let dry and sand smooth.Various colors and patterns will emerge.I would like to use in order of peference and dry time:shellac,lacquer,oil-based paint and epoxy.I don't like how waterbased paints sand so i will not have that on the list. thanks for all the input !! Rob

[Scott Holmes]

Shellac should NOT be built up into a thick coat!
How about milk paint? (this is what I would use; if I understand what you are doing)
Have you looked at some of the acrylic paints they use in crafts?

Fast dry times may need to be lowered on you want list.

Pigmented lacquer would work well if you have the equipment to apply it and still hae time to imprint something into it before it dries.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Shellac should NOT be built up into a thick coat!

Clear shellac, absolutely,,pigmented shellac (BIN) is a whole different animal.