Hi, Liz here. In last week’s post, (you can find that post here) I showed you why I love milk paint for creating a realistic distressed look on furniture. The milk paint and tung oil benches in today’s post are going to reveal another mind-blowing attribute of milk paint!
I had a spot on outside on our back patio walkway that needed 3 benches along the wall. I decided to get unfinished cedar benches so that I could put on my own color and more reliable finish on them!
We are in NW Wisconsin. For 6 months of the year we have snow on the ground…
and on anything else outside it can pile on.
That means on the deck, railings, furniture… and it’s kind of destructive. The snow as it melts on and off and will soak into the wood, deck, ledges and start to pop the painted or varnished surface off. Trying to keep a horizontal wood railing from peeling paint in a year or two is nearly impossible.
Unless…
Unless you put on a magical finish that won’t pop off.
That’s the mind-blowing quality of milk paint on raw wood or concrete!!
It actually soaks into the wood and bonds with the wood fibers so it would be impossible for it to cause that hideous peeling effect latex paint can have on exterior horizontal surfaces.
As soon as my unfinished cedar benches were delivered, (HERE is where I ordered the benches from), I mixed up some Coastal Blue color Milk Paint by Fusion. Miss Mustard Seed’s milk paint is a great option too! It’s a nice soft blue/grey color that will look good against our white house. We have a bit of a nautical look on the back of our house, so this will be perfect.
Equal parts dry milk paint powder and water. Stir well, let it rest 10 minutes and stir again… and stir frequently as you use it.
I like to mix it up in a jar or cup that my paintbrush can easily fit in, but not a large top opening to let a lot of paint exposed to air, like a paint tray would… milk paint dries quickly.
First, I started with a small workshop brush that I didn’t feel bad about ruining by jamming it in the cracks between the slats of the benches.
To paint the rest of the bench parts I used pointed round brush.
This brush is a mix of synthetic and natural bristles so it has the qualities to lay out a smooth finish but yet hold a good amount of paint in it, (less reloading)!
Fits great in the jar of milk paint. Milk paint isn’t smooth like acrylic or latex paint. It’s definitely a different texture. However, it doesn’t show brush marks.
After the benches were dry, as is common with raw wood finished with a water based product like milk paint, the grain was lifted and the benches didn’t feel smooth.
To alleviate the roughness I simply wet-sanded them.
Wet-sanding is done after the paint is totally dry. The ‘wet’ part is the water, (or other liquid) you use for the wet-sanding technique.
That’s a simple and quick process of spraying on a mist of water, (or getting your sanding pad wet).
Then lightly sanding the misted area with fine sand paper. I’m using a sanding sponge for this.
Wet-sanding also eliminates airborne dust that can be created with dry sanding.
A wipe down with a rag to remove the dust from sanding and the benches were ready for the next step.
The milk paint cupboard I did last week, I finished with hemp oil. That’s great for inside, but for outside, hemp oil doesn’t last a super long time. Instead for these benches I chose to finish them with tung oil.
The Fusion Tung Oil is 100% tung oil. It’s all natural and food safe in that 100% natural form, but not once the solvent is added.
Here’s a tip: To be sure the tung oil was penetrating into the wood, I started with a mix of half tung oil and half Fusion Odorless Solvent.
By cutting the tung oil in half with odorless solvent, though no longer food safe, it thins the tung oil to soak into the wood, and it will dry more rapidly than the pure 100% tung oil.
Same process as the milk paint, for the slat spaces I used a cheap small workshop brush, and for the rest I used my Staalmeester pointed sash brush.
In between each coat of tung oil I allowed at least 1 day to dry. With each subsequent layer of tung oil, the tung oil became more pure tung oil, and less solvent to thin it, thus the drying time greatly increased.
Word of caution…
Tung oil and odorless solvent are combustible, so common sense handling is important. Ventilation and proper disposal are key! I like to immediately put all the rags into a ziploc filled with water and then dispose of that in a metal garbage bucket with a lid.
The second coat of tung oil had a greater percentage of tung oil than odorless solvent… about a 2:1 ratio.
The final coat of tung oil was pure tung oil. It took 3 or 4 days for it to dry… well mostly dry. Dry enough to move them outside and finish drying in the hot sun.
The cedar benches have been on the patio now for a few days and the tung oil is completely dry.
I’ll recheck them in the spring and see if they need another coat of tung oil. I would say raw wood would need at least 3 coats of tung oil, but you can go many, many more coats if you wanted… The more tung oil, the shinier the finish will be.
On a complete side note, I absolutely love the odor of 100% tung oil. It has a subtle yet somehow rich aroma of natural woodsy almost herbal smell. Reminds me of my grandpa, he was a carpenter and must have used tung oil.
These benches will be in a very sunny location!
Fortunately, Fusion milk paint is made with highest grade ground up minerals for the colorant, (same as Fusion Mineral Paint) which is so great for this sunny spot because it won’t fade!
How are they wearing???
It’s been several years since this post. In fact, we’ve sold this house and the benches are now residing up at our lake property. They are outside through all the seasons, including heavy winter snowfall. So, how are they wearing? Great!! With milk paint on raw wood, the paint is absorbed into the grain and there is no worries of chipping paint. I haven’t done a single thing to them and they look wonderful.
Thank you for stopping by, I appreciate you reading along.
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Marlene says
Have to ask.. did you use two coats of the blue chalk paint? One before the wet sanding and one after? Or did one coat do the job? Thank you.
Liz says
I did only one coat of the milk paint. I lightly wet sanded, just enough to smooth it, but very little paint was removed.
Kathy says
Your projects are very motivating! The mineral paints sound incredible.
Liz says
Thank you so much!