Painting Poplar and Luan Plywood question

[Ron Citerone]

Hey all,

I am building a boat bookshelf for my Grandson's room. The shelves are poplar and I found a source for luan bending plywood. I want to paint it white. the poplar has green heart in it.

I plan on 2 coats of kilz followed by 2 coats of white paint.

Does anybody have any first hand experience with painting luan and poplar.............Good or bad results??

My concern is bleed through of the luan and poplar heartwood.

Thanks, Ron

[John TenEyck]

I would substitute BIN shellac based pigmented white primer for the Kilz. It's a far better product in terms of stain blocking and is compatible with nearly any topcoat. If you want a smooth finish you will need at least two coats of primer, and probably more, each sanded smooth, or you could fill the grain first. This is especially true for the Luan plywood. You didn't ask but I'll advise you anyway to only use a trim enamel paint and not wall paint. There are several good choices, BM's Advance and SW's ProClassic are two often used. Advance takes longer to cure, but is available in all 3500+ colors from BM. Goes on great with a brush, but also can be sprayed with the right equipment. ProClassic dries/cures much faster if that's an important consideration. Both are waterbased.

John

[Ron Citerone]

Thanks John, I will go with the BIN. More coats is no problem, as many as it takes.

[Hoang N Nguyen]

I've never used Luan but have any products where I've painted poplar. All of which received 3 coats of KA primer w/ sanding between each coat and 3 coats of KA Kem aqua paint. Haven't had any issues with the poplar bleeding through with my oldest piece being about 2 years old.

[Bill Orbine]

Kilz is fine! You will not have a bleed problem with poplar. Yes, you'll have to "fill" the grain in the bendable luan as stated before.