Hey guys,

I made myself a new L shaped computer desk last week. The top is made from two separate sheets of 2'x4' MDF. Desk has crisp chamfered edges. I wanted this to come out with a hi-glossy shine and smooth finish, to match some modern-ish furniture in the room where the desk will be. Think almost like a pure white solid surface countertop.


So I tried this paint product called "Glidden door and Trim" that has "Gel-Flow" technology. It's specifically labelled as "no drips, no brush marks" and I got to see an actual sample of wood painted with it at HD. What imrpessed me about it was how hard the cured paint was, hard enough to resist a finger nail mark, unlike latex etc. That appealed to me since I hate when desks get little marks in the paint and I have a 3 year old daughter who will try to mark it at some point. So I tried it out.

The "no brush marks" claim was true for me, but the "no drips" was not... the vertical edges don't look so good and there is some beading up on the bottom of the chamfers... while the top of the chamfers are often lacking in paint. But what really bothers me is how inconsistent the surface on the top of the desk look. In a few spots its smooth, but in most areas its incredibly lumpy still. Not small sandy lumps, thing BIG LOOONG wavy lumpyness that shows up mostly in reflections. It's not terrible in diffuse light, but the second a reflection comes near it looks awful. Those are usually the areas where I had to meet the area I started laying down paint with where I finished... and when I tried to 'feather' out the marks it only seems to have made it worse. The directions say to "back brush" the stuff but I think the best way is to wait until the paint has dried about 10 minutes THEN to the backbrushing. Hard to describe but its a very unique material. And it seems backbrushing works better without paint on the brush, and ONLY with synthetic brushes (natural bristles puncture the thin dry topcoat instead of pushing the stuff under).

Now this stuff sands HORRIBLY... as in almost not at all. Might get better with time (almost like the bottom layers still too mushy), but it tends to fray the paint some. I'm sure its possible to get a good result with just the right technique but it seems fussy to me. Not to mention stressful to apply for some reason. The reviews go both ways so maybe certain batches were not stored properly etc and I got a bad one.


I might just buy two new sheets of MDF (20 bucks vs all night sanding something that won't sand? hmm easy choice) and start over on the top. What should I use?


my first approach was going to be the standard Kills oil primer -> Exterior glossy latex -> Minwax Polycrilic finish

Good primer choice? Any particular latex going to be better/worse for this? What about the poly?


As above, I'm trying to have the smoothest least-textured finish possible. Will the polycrylic by itself give the paint enough durability, or should I use something other than latex for the middle coat to make it harder?



Thanks to to anybody who read this far
Ryan