oil paint/decoy durability question

J

Justin Harrison

Active member
wonder if someone can answer a question that has me scratching my head.

i've been teal hunting over the last couple of days and tossing my decoys in a regular bag (clanging around w/ the other plastic decoys), had ace wrap weights on them, etc etc......and, i do mean just a couple of days.

today i noticed a high amount of paint (mostly on the head) that's either rubbed or chipped off. natural wear and tear is one thing, but i mean, aLOT of paint in these areas.

my first thought is i'm doing something wrong in my sealing/painting process:

1) 2 coats of amber shellac, light sanding between
2) 2 primer coats of rustoleums (haven't started graiselle yet) just 2 flat black coats of primer
3) paint and allow to dry

these decoys have "cured" for months before using a couple days ago......

i'm not sure what is going on.....i use grumbacher pretested oil paints by the way.

touching up some of the areas is a given and a must, but i don't want to have to do this every few days.

the only thing i know to do is after the paint has cured/dried, to go over it w/ some matte varnish or such to add a bit of a "shell"....but, i can't make myself believe this will help that much.

can anyone offer any advice in the durability department?

thanks, justin
 
wonder if someone can answer a question that has me scratching my head.

i've been teal hunting over the last couple of days and tossing my decoys in a regular bag (clanging around w/ the other plastic decoys), had ace wrap weights on them, etc etc......and, i do mean just a couple of days.

today i noticed a high amount of paint (mostly on the head) that's either rubbed or chipped off. natural wear and tear is one thing, but i mean, aLOT of paint in these areas.

my first thought is i'm doing something wrong in my sealing/painting process:

1) 2 coats of amber shellac, light sanding between
2) 2 primer coats of rustoleums (haven't started graiselle yet) just 2 flat black coats of primer
3) paint and allow to dry

these decoys have "cured" for months before using a couple days ago......

i'm not sure what is going on.....i use grumbacher pretested oil paints by the way.

touching up some of the areas is a given and a must, but i don't want to have to do this every few days.

the only thing i know to do is after the paint has cured/dried, to go over it w/ some matte varnish or such to add a bit of a "shell"....but, i can't make myself believe this will help that much.

can anyone offer any advice in the durability department?

thanks, justin
Click to expand...


Oil paint, or any paint for that matter, should not fall off. What layer is it chipping down to?
 
todd, that was exactly my thoughts....particularly after a but a few hunts.

i muddied the water using "chipping"......i know what happened there - big time drop onto gravel and decoy landing on it's noggin'.

but, to clarify......it rubbed down to the primer coat on the cheeks........crazy.

justin
 
yep......i know, strange.

oils applied straight from tube as well.

in fact, i was just looking at a mallard i had out this morning (just to see it float) in the teal decoys. i painted a nail on using some ivory black and a bit of raw umber..............nail is almost completely gone from the bill - and the bill is showing a ton of wear too!

i can't get my head wrapped around it.

-justin
 
paint will wear off of any decoy that is piled up in a sack. I have had to repaint a couple from folks who did the same thing you have done after a season or two that got sack treatment. Type or brand of paint does not matter in those conditions unless you coat them with epoxy after you paint them.
 
I'm not a fan of Rusto for primer.....too slick in my opinion. (Some guys do fine with it though.) If you do rusto prime or any other for that matter you need to scuff the primer between each coat and top coat. Too smooth and nothing sticks........
 
I think your trouble is in the shellac. It may be sealing all the pores and not allowing anything for the oil to bite into. I have heard from good authority that a good coat of linseed oil soaked into the wood is the best primer for oils. The oil coat will take months to dry however. But, the result will be something that holds paint like glue. Many carvers skip this step and go straight to oils, but I think the oil paint shell is more prone to compromise, since it is a thinner layer than the linseed oil soaked into the wood.
 
be mindful of this, the oils used by the old guys was, in fact a lead based paint-mostly housepaint..Simple reason, it was waaaay less expensive than "artist" oils, which were rather costly to someone making numbers of hunting stool--To my knowledge, E A Crowell was one of the fre who used oils, and truth be known, most of his stuff was made for shelves...
Too bad we got so paranoid that we had to take lead out of oil based materials.
If you paint too thin, the stuff will abrade quickly, if you paint too thick, it will dry for your grandkids' use, if you play with dryers, there is a pretty good laundry list of things that can go qrong--
If making gunners, and you need ot paint thick, go with matte actylics--just my dos centavos
 
Justin,
It doesn't matter what paint you use, what primer you use and how long you let it cure IF the substrate has not been properly prepared.

Some plastics require sanding.
Some plastics require sand blasting.
Some plastics require flame etching.
Some plastics can not be painted so as to hold paint...especially if regrind has been used.

If is is "chipped off", typically it has NOT bonded to the substrate and nothing will keep it on. ;)

None of the plastics will accept paint properly if only solvent washed unless designed to do so.

How did you prepare the surface prior to painting?
Lou
 
I think your trouble is in the shellac. It may be sealing all the pores and not allowing anything for the oil to bite into. I have heard from good authority that a good coat of linseed oil soaked into the wood is the best primer for oils. The oil coat will take months to dry however. But, the result will be something that holds paint like glue. Many carvers skip this step and go straight to oils, but I think the oil paint shell is more prone to compromise, since it is a thinner layer than the linseed oil soaked into the wood.
Click to expand...

I didn't realize you were talking about plastics. I thought they were wood. I just didn't read it that well.
So, what Lou said.
 
thanks everyone for the advice.

these aren't plastics though......cork bodies and a mix of either cedar or basswood heads. i understand i'm gonna see some wear and tear, the perplexing part for me was the amount after only a few hunts. i really like painting with oils, simply b/c i never could get in a rhythm w/ acrylics and don't really want to go back, BUT i admittedly never saw this last year hunting over my birds painted in acrylics....

more or less just a bit let down as to the durability and can't help but thinking it's something i'm doing in my process...........

i guess it's just live, learn and work on doing better..........

again, thanks everyone!

-justin
 
"""i've been teal hunting over the last couple of days and tossing my decoys in a regular bag (clanging around w/ the other plastic decoys), had ace wrap weights on them, etc etc......and, i do mean just a couple of days. """


Justin,
I presumed that you were talking plastics based on your statement above..."w/ the other plastic decoys".

I'm not a proponent of using shellac for outdoor applications. I've done acres of indoor floors with it but do not like it for decoys. Just...MHO.
Lou
 
gotcha mr. lou.........that statement was pretty misleading.

the guys i was hunting with had a bag of plastics and i just tossed mine (corks) in w/ theirs.

what are some other options for sealing a decoy? i've used spar varnish for it when using acrylics and like i said, i never saw this much wear w/ those after only a few hunts.................maybe i just answered my own question????

again, thanks, justin
 
Epoxy brushed on and a couple coats of Jansens MSS has had no problems for me the last two or three seasons.
 
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