Painting furniture with a spray gun

I use a spray gun to paint almost everything I do. I’m constantly getting emails and phone calls asking what type of gun I use and how I like it. Well… the gun that I own is a Graco TrueCoat and I loooooove it!! I purchased it at Lowe’s for $199. It plugs in, doesn’t require an air compressor, has a 1 quart cup that is easily removed to add paint, and can spray a wide variety of coatings without requiring thinning. Clean up is pretty easy and changing from one color to another is a breeze.

I love my Graco spray gun and would definitely recommend it to anyone seriously considering purchasing this type of equipment. It’s worth the investment if you plan on painting a lot of furniture. I’m not sure it’s a great gun for beginners though. The spray pattern is quit large and the flow is pretty heavy. If you don’t have a quick, steady hand it would be easy to create stripes and runs on your furniture. Not a good look.

It comes with a tip that sprays an 8 to 10 inch spray pattern. This is great for covering large pieces of furniture like a dresser or armoire. It’s not so great for painting a chair with spindles though, most of the paint ends up in the air instead of on the furniture. Additional tips can be purchased that are more ideal for small projects. A 3 to 5 inch spray pattern can be achieved with a different tip, available at Lowes.

OK. So you’ve purchased your spray gun, now your wondering how do I use this thing??

The right angle- When using a spray gun it is really important that you hold it steady and make smooth, fluid movements. You want to apply the paint as evenly as possible to get an even finish. Always hold the gun perfectly perpendicular to the surface that you are painting. It is common to want to just turn your wrist, but instead move you’re entire arm. Just bending your wrist will affect the angle of your spray pattern. If you’re spraying at an angle, rather than maintaining a perpendicular position to the surface, that will cause an uneven spray, which will be heavy on one side and light on the other side. You will be more likely to get runs in the paint this way in addition to the final coat looking like it has stripes in it.

Overlap your strokes- Overlap your strokes by about 50% to ensure the best coverage and to avoid a striped appearance. The gun should be held at least 10 inches away from the surface that you are painting, try to keep the distance as consistent as possible with each stroke. The distance you hold the gun away from the furniture will depend on the size of your spray pattern and the amount of flow. Be sure to read the manufacturer’s instructions on the particular gun that you own. The image below was taken from the owners manual of my Graco TrueCoat spray gun. The pictures demonstrate the proper way to use the gun for the best results.

Avoid runs- When using a spray gun you most likely won’t get perfect coverage in the first coat; and you shouldn’t try to. Applying several layers of thin coats is much better than applying one heavy coat. Be patient, one really heavy coat is likely to run causing a lot more work in the long run and a finish that is undesirable. When applying several coats be sure to allow plenty of dry time between coats. The paint you purchase will have re-coat times listed on the label. Follow the manufacturer’s suggestions.

Clean up- If you want your spray gun to last it is extremely important to clean it really, really well after each use. The particular gun that I use requires flushing it with hot soapy water twice and then running a pump primer through it. The pump primer is included with the purchase of the gun and refill fluid is available at the hardware store. Before I run water through the gun I rinse and scrub the container that houses the paint and the tip. I use an old toothbrush to clean all dried out paint from the tip. Do not ever use metal or a sharp object to try and scrap gummed up paint out of the tip, this will damage the tip rendering it useless.

Proper storage- Once the gun is cleaned well and free from all paint residue it is important to lubricate the rubber gaskets and all metal parts. You can buy many types of lubricant specifically for tools at the hardware store, but I have a little trick. I collect used oil from cooking and use it to oil my spray gun after every use. It is a more economical way to keep my gun in good working condition, plus I have no other use for the oil that would otherwise get thrown away, so it gets reused. Applying oil to the rubber parts keeps them from drying out and cracking. The oil keeps the metal parts from rusting.