24 Feb
Touch up Paint for the Vandercook?
I have a #4 that is in pretty good shape, but there are a number of spots on the press with worn or chipped paint. My feed table is particularly worn, and I am interested in touching it up both for appearance reasons, but aslo to protect the exposed metal form rust and what not.
I am wondering if anyone can reccommend a particular type of paint to use and even a color number that will be a good match to the Vandercook gray. I seem to recall Paul Moxon mentioning the use of paint to restore his number 4.
Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Thanks
The closest thing we have found to be readily available is Rustoleum Smoke Gray. It is not a perfect match, but if you use it to repaint the entire feed board it should come out looking pretty good. Just avoid the spray cans (it comes in regular cans too) and use a small and relatively hard rubber roller to apply it. Stir it well instead of shaking it and don’t compress the roller when you are applying it or you will find that it forms bubbles that dry in the paint and cause an uneven surface.
Daniel Morris
February 25th, 2007 at 12:48 pmThe Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY
I second Daniel’s technique. Rustoleum Smoke Gray is the closest match I’ve found to Vandercook gray. I recommend 2 or 3 thin coats of paint using a clean velvety/low pile roller.
Terry Chouinard
February 25th, 2007 at 1:23 pmGreat. That is exactly what I needed to know. Thank you.
February 25th, 2007 at 8:29 pm