What Paint to Paint Children's Wooden Toys Made of Plywood • Choosing a Tool

Plywood, which is thin sheets of wood joined with an adhesive, is often used at the finishing stage of construction. It is used to decorate facades, cover furniture, walls, and floors. To extend the life of the plywood covering, painting is used. When choosing the best way to paint plywood, take into account the conditions in which the wood covering will be used.

The main feature of plywood is its ability to absorb moisture. Because of this, untreated material quickly loses its quality and attractive appearance. To protect against high humidity and extend its service life, plywood must be painted.

Several types of plywood are produced according to the degree of resistance to external influences:

• FC is a moisture-resistant material used in furniture production and for interior decoration;
• FSF is a material with increased resistance to moisture and wear, used for roofing;
• FOF – waterproof laminated boards with a phenolic film coating on one or both sides;
• bakelite slabs with increased resistance to moisture, flame, chemicals, temperature fluctuations, coated with phenol-formaldehyde resin dissolved in alcohol.

Plywood is divided into 5 grades based on the quality of the material from which it is made and the amount of preparatory work required before painting:

1. E-grade – highest. There is not the slightest flaw on the surface.
2. Grade I. Up to five knots per 1 m2 are allowed, their diameter should not exceed 1.5 cm.
3. Grades II and III. Depressions, scratches, and knots are noticeable. Residues of dried adhesive on the sides of the slab are acceptable. There should be no more than 20 cm of cracks per 1 m2.
4. Grade IV is the lowest. Any defects are possible that do not affect the technical qualities of the slab.

Painting plywood: stages, tools, choice of paint and varnish
You can use either ready-made or base paint. Colored dyes are added to the base, tinting it to the desired shade.

Expert opinion

Strebizh Viktor Fedorovich, leading construction foreman

If painted plywood will be located outdoors or in a room with high humidity, it is recommended to use acrylic paint. If you want to clarify something, please contact me!

Wood painting - choice of paint, preparation and application

1. The spray gun is optimal if you need to paint a large area: the floor, the facade.
2. A roller is useful if you need to paint a medium-sized surface, for example, plywood furniture. For plywood, a tool with a foam coat is preferable. For enamel and water-based paints, you can use a velor roller. A fur tool is suitable for applying decorative plaster to plywood.
3. Paint brushes are used to paint small parts, corners, and hard-to-reach areas.
4. An airbrush is used to apply artistic inscriptions and patterns to a painted surface.

Enamels

It is recommended to paint the plywood covering the facade with pentaphthalic enamel. Enamel compositions are inexpensive, adhere well to wood, form a thin film, and create a glossy finish.

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Varnishes used as an alternative to paints are based on natural or synthetic resins. They form a transparent or pigmented film that emphasizes the texture of the wood and protects the plywood from external influences.

Epoxy, alkyd, polyurethane and nitro varnish are suitable for painting plywood. The advantages and disadvantages of application are determined by the chemical composition.

Alkyd varnish is used for interior and facade decoration, dries in a couple of days, is highly decorative, and usually gives the surface a brownish tint. Nitrovarnish forms a transparent film, optimal for coating plywood furniture. Polyurethane and epoxy varnishes are wear-resistant and reliably protect the surface.

What varnish should I use?

There are several types of solutions that are successfully used for varnishing wood:

• Varnish that has an oil base;

• Alcohol varnishes;

• Nitrovarnishes.

The oil-based composition forms a very durable film that can reliably protect wooden products. A minor drawback of this type of product is the fact that after it is applied to the surface, the varnish coating becomes slightly darker, the natural shade of wood.

The composition of alcohol products consists of several types of resins and ethyl alcohols. If the goal is to preserve the naturalness of the wood in its original form, then it is necessary to varnish the wood with a composition of this type.

Nitrovarnishes are made from the following components: alkyd resins, solvents, nitrocellulose. It differs from previous substances in its rapid drying process. It is thanks to this quality that experts use them to varnish furniture.

We prepare everything for work

Before you start creating an artistic masterpiece, you need to prepare in advance everything that may be useful during the work process:

• blanks (any wooden item that you plan to make beautiful and unique);
• soft pencil;
• eraser;
• sandpaper of various grain sizes;
• paper sheets (for those who work from sketches);
• a set of brushes of various thicknesses;
• palette;
• templates (for those who cannot draw);
• paint;
• primer;
• transparent varnish (it is advisable to coat the finished pattern with varnish so that it is less damaged);
• container for liquids (for water or solvent, depending on the colorant).

The wood primer is selected according to the type of paint, but the choice of paint must be taken seriously.

Expert opinion

Strebizh Viktor Fedorovich, leading construction foreman

If the slightest peeling of the veneer is observed on the end parts where the veneer layers are visible, you should refuse such a purchase, despite the tempting price. If you want to clarify something, please contact me!

Getting ready to paint

Before applying beautiful patterns, the base must be prepared. To do this you need to do the following:

• sand with sandpaper, gradually changing from coarser to finer, the base until smooth;
• coat the surface with a wood primer that matches the paint being used;
• wait for the primer to dry and apply a color base, painting the product with the desired color.

After the color base has dried, it is possible to apply a design using any technology.

Tool selection

Tools suitable for cutting plywood shapes for the garden are either manual or electric. To work successfully, you need to stock up on a variety of devices:

• Jigsaw. It is better if there is a manual and electric option - in such work they are not always interchangeable.
• Hand drill and drill bits of different sizes.
• A set of files of different thicknesses. It doesn’t hurt to have several files - they periodically become dull and sometimes break.

• To prepare the parts and assemble you will need a hammer, a set of screwdrivers, pliers, an awl, a screwdriver and self-tapping screws.
• Files can be used to polish the cuts and shape them, and fine-grained sandpaper can be used for final sanding.
• To draw, you will need a simple pencil, a stencil and carbon paper.
• Paints. For coloring (if it is planned), stock up on acrylic or oil paints that are resistant to ultraviolet radiation, varnish, and brushes.
• Depending on the size and method of installation of the product in the garden, pegs may be needed. Shovel cuttings from a hardware store are suitable for their role.

How to paint plywood: 5 best compositions and how to apply it yourself correctly

Since ancient times, our ancestors painted various patterns on wooden surfaces. After all, painting on wood looks great both on rustic frames and on kitchen wooden utensils; it is also appropriate in the interior of residential premises.

Expert opinion

Strebizh Viktor Fedorovich, leading construction foreman

In order for the pattern drawn with gouache to hold more firmly, for diluting the paint they use not water, but an aqueous solution of PVA glue in a ratio of 1 1. If you want to clarify something, please contact me!

Features of coloring materials

Most often, home craftsmen use the following types of paints when painting on wood:

• gouache;
• watercolor;
• acrylic;
• aniline;
• oil

Gouache

In another way, these dyes are also called poster dyes. They are a thick, opaque mass. They are easy to work with, but complex designs with many shades are impossible to create. To draw, gouache must meet the following requirements:

• easy to apply to the surface;
• After drying, do not wear off or crack.

In order for the pattern drawn with gouache to hold more firmly, to dilute the paint, use not water, but an aqueous solution of PVA glue in a 1:1 ratio. This dilution of the paint allows you to do without preliminary priming.

Gouache drawings always turn out bright, colorful, and the dye is cheap. Gouache is suitable for those who are starting to master wood painting and create their first masterpieces.

Watercolor

Everyone is familiar with the simple watercolors that schoolchildren use to paint. Compared to gouache, they are more transparent and allow you to create a complex pattern with many shades. In order to get a beautiful drawing, watercolor must:

• lie flat on the surface of the workpiece, without stains or streaks;
• After drying, hold firmly.

The main advantage of watercolors is that if mistakes occur while drawing, the product can be washed, dried, primed and painted again.

Acrylic

Acrylic-based paints are among the best, and painting on wood with them is not only beautiful: acrylic dyes additionally protect and strengthen the material. Manufacturers of artistic paints offer a wide color palette for painting, but it is not profitable for beginners to use them.

Why? The fact is that acrylic compositions are quite expensive, so it will be expensive for beginning artists who have not yet fully mastered the technique of drawing. But those who have already achieved some experience can create their own masterpieces with them to decorate the interior.

Oily

Painting blanks with oil is recommended for those who have already mastered at least a little how to do wood painting.

The dye is diluted to a working consistency with the recommended solvent (White spirit, drying oil), after which you can paint. But oil paints have the following features:

• they give only bright shades (you can use them to paint an object like Khokhloma or make a stylish gold pattern on a black background);
• durable, once dry they cannot be removed.

Those who have at least a little experience in painting will enjoy working with oil paints, because they can be used to decorate the interior of living rooms inexpensively and for a long time.

Aniline

Aniline-based dyes are increasingly found in the interior of houses; they are used to paint wooden walls or small decorative objects, and in rural areas craftsmen decorate their homes with them. Aniline dyes have a number of positive qualities:

1. They are easy to draw with.
2. You can get many beautiful shades with them.
3. They are inexpensive.

But they fade quickly. To maintain the brightness of the design, if it is made outdoors, you need to coat it with an ultraviolet-resistant varnish.

Painting plywood - methods of preparing the base and choosing the material

• Draw it yourself. You simply draw the design you like on a piece of paper, and then cut it out according to the silhouette and transfer it using carbon paper to a sheet of plywood. People with a steady hand and a keen eye draw a figure with a pencil directly on the plywood.

Putty

The next stage is surface repair. Before painting, it is necessary to eliminate all existing defects and eliminate them using construction putty. It is applied to a wooden base in a thin layer with a metal spatula. Putty is used to cover the heads of nails, metal staples, cracks and chips, and joining seams. Excess putty is sanded off with sandpaper.

It is necessary in order to reduce the absorbency of plywood. Drying oil or other solutions that can fill pores are usually used as a primer. The primer extends the service life of the product, protects it from possible damage, disinfects the wood, and prevents fungi and mold from settling on it.

The primer ensures reliable adhesion of the paint and the top layer of plywood, which is why the topcoat lasts much longer. The primer can be applied with a spray gun or roller, as convenient. Choosing the first element allows you to perform the operation much faster, choosing the second helps create a denser soil layer.

Expert opinion

Strebizh Viktor Fedorovich, leading construction foreman

We hope everyone has learned how and with what to treat plywood for moisture resistance, how to give the technical material special decorative properties and increase the service life of the product. If you want to clarify something, please contact me!

How to make a drawing

Depending on the level of skill, painting on wood can be done using the following technologies:

• point;
• using a stencil;
• drawing from sketches.

Stencil method

Drawing using a template is the simplest: all you need to do is put the stencil on the surface, trace it with a soft pencil, and you can paint it. You can make a stencil yourself by copying any picture you like or asking a familiar artist to make a template.

Point method

The dot technique also helps to create beautiful things for those who do not have artistic skills. The point method consists of drawing a set of reference points on a sketch drawing and copying it as accurately as possible from the selected sketch onto the surface to be painted.

The dot drawing method requires some skills. But maybe it’s worth remembering how in childhood we connected numbers with lines and got some kind of silhouette? The dot method of painting is based precisely on this, and the more dots are transferred, the more accurate the match will be with the selected picture, which then will only have to be colored.

The point-by-point method of transferring a picture onto a base allows those who have almost no drawing skills to create artistic masterpieces. Simply copy one or more drawings using a soft pencil and color. You can do it as it was in the original, but it’s better to show your imagination and choose your own colors.

According to sketches

This technique involves free creativity when a sketch is drawn, and then transferred to a base and painted. Sketches can be both elements of a painting (for artists) and any geometric elements (for those who do not know how to draw professionally). Using sketches, you can come up with your own unique pattern for drawing, and it doesn’t matter what is used: geometric shapes, plant elements or free professional creativity.

It is recommended to varnish the finished and dried masterpiece for durability. The varnish base, like the primer base, is selected in accordance with the dye. After the varnish has dried, the painted product can be used.

Painting wooden objects is not difficult. By mastering one of the proposed techniques and choosing the right paint, you can create real masterpieces, making your home or apartment interior truly unique.

Painting

Instead of paint, the surface of the plywood can be treated with varnish. In this case, the plywood also needs to be thoroughly cleaned with fine-grained sandpaper. After this, the entire area to be treated should be degreased and cleaned of fine dust and dirt, otherwise all this will be visible under the layer of varnish.

Before painting, it is advisable to cover all nearby furniture and the floor with plastic film. If this is not done, then after painting you will have to clean the floor and furniture. After finishing painting, be sure to check the room thoroughly.

Acrylic

Plywood is rarely painted with oil paint, despite the relatively low cost, since the composition has many disadvantages. Basically, the oil solution is used to paint plywood bases and objects intended for household use.

Expert opinion

Strebizh Viktor Fedorovich, leading construction foreman

Basically, the oil solution is used to paint plywood bases and objects intended for household use. If you want to clarify something, please contact me!