MDF Shaker doors

[Lord Kitchener]

Another useful very useful tip. Thanks m'lud
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I should have mentioned that we use ash veneered MDF, the grain shows through atractively, but more importantly, water based paints tend to raise some of the fibres on the face of plain MDF, giving an un-smooth surface. If you put some emulsion on a pice of plain MDF you will see what I mean.

 

[Bluewater]

I've read a lot on the forums about painting mdf and was going to hand paint with brush or roller using oil based eggshell. Then I read about pigmented Acid Cat Lacquer and HVLP spraying and resolved to have a go at that because of the hard and durable finish that this paint achieves. But then I read that the fumes from acid-cat lacquer are pretty bad and being 2 part and solvent based cleaning up is obviously less easy than water based. I then discovered Morrell's waterborne pigmented 362 lacquer. This is claimed to be as hard as acid-cat not so fumy and easier to clean up. So that's the latest plan (plenty of time to change my mind because I haven't made the doors yet and don't have a spray system!) Incidentally the recommended primer seems to be Zinsser 123.