Painting MDF

Brad Angove youtube How to seal MDF for a gloss finish

Behlen vinyl sealer

DarlingtonFarm youtube Sealing MDF With SHER-WOOD Vinyl Sealer

SHER-WOOD Vinyl Sealer T67 F3

Mike Thompson youtube Mike's Quick Tips - #10 - Using Wood Glue as a Sealant

Tweakwood youtube Tweakwood: Sealing MDF edges or end grain

Wood That I Could youtube How to prepare MDF for painting

In the Workshop with Charles Neil Finishing MDF

One of the best sealers is shellac, but even then it will absorb a lot of it. Here is a tip….first, sand the area with some 600 grit paper, like sanding an end grain, it helps to seal down the MDF. Then apply your sealer coat, shellac does okay, but In this case I used the General Finishes Under Coater. The under coater is a thick, high solids product made for sealing down MDF, we also used it on the plywood. A good and readily available alternative is Zinssers BIN sealer, it’s a shellac based, high solids primer and does very well. When you apply the first coat of any product don’t expect it to be very pretty, it’s going to raise the fiber and look rough. It’s normal, the key is to let it dry well and then sand it back smooth using some 220 and then re-coat. The sealer has to harden the fiber and then when sanded it’s hard enough that the sandpaper will shear it off leaving a smooth surface. When you re-coat you may get a little of the same, but usually not much and when sanded smooth it remains. Another big key is to not break the seal coat, in other words, don’t sand through the sealer. Apply some more, you do not want to see the MDF, it needs to be fully sealed in.

woodworkingtalk.com thread Finishing MDF edges

Charlie DIYte youtube How to Seal and Paint MDF Edges - Video #2

Charlie DIYte youtube How to Paint MDF - Video #1

        Never uses primer on MDF