Saw Paint.

[fishhuntcutwood]

I'm restoring my 056 Super. Not to immaculate showroom quality, but cleaning it up, replacing mechanically, and cosmetically broken components and painting it. I am going to use the Stihl brand spray paint, and was wondering if anyone had used it in the past. Is it any good? Do I need to totally strip and prep everything, and put it on like I'm painting a plane, or can I just clean it up and spray it over the exixting paint and have it hold, and look good. Like I said, I ain't going for show stopping quality, and I understand what makes a good paint job. I'm just wondering how resiliant and how finicky this paint is.

Take care all,
Jeff

 

[Lawn Masters]

I'd strip all the old paint off, then put a coat of primer on followed by the paint. if you paint over the old paint, its gonna look like crap because of the scratches, which the new paint will make visible.

 

[Chopwood]

If you are going to spend the time to do it, do it right.

 

[Al Smith]

I just clean them up,real good,primer the bare spots,and shoot the paint to them.Take a look.

 

[Lawn Masters]

Al, that looks REALLY nice.

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Thanks for the replies, guys. And sorry, I should have elaborated on the state of the saw now- the original paint is still in tact, and fading is the problem. I agree about doing it right, but if I don't have to sandblast, prep, tack cloth, prime, tack cloth, paint, and so on just to cover up an even, fairly scratch-free faded original paint job, I'd prefer not to. That's why I asked about the qualities of the paint. Some paints are more tolerent of less-than-professional methods than others, meaning, just painting over what's on there now to brighten it up. And I'd prefer to not spend an entire afternoon freshening up the top cover/handle ass'y on my 056. I should have mentioned the condition of the paint in my first post. If scratches were the problem, rest assured, I'd have it in the paint booth at work, using the HVLP equipment.

Take care all,
Jeff

 

[buckduck]

Painting saws

fishhuntcutwood:

The saws I've painted, I just made sure the surfaces were clean, sanded the rough and worn spots, then primed and sprayed a good quality paint (automotive). Cleaning all surfaces with lacquer thinner should be all you need. You can get pretty good results and not have to strip all the old paint off.

I clean my saws with fuel mix and haven't had any problem damaging my painted saws. (Pictured saw... I painted two years ago. Cosmetically, it was pretty rough before, but now looks good as new)

 

[buckduck]

..... I just noticed from the bar in that picture it was probably taken not long after I painted it. So that picture isn't recent. I'll take a picture today and post it tomorrow for a 'before & after'

 

[ozflea]

Gday Buck Duck,
Mate a lot of those origional finishes are baked enamel and especially Stihl have applied a reasonably heavy coat as i have just tried to remove the paint off an old 015 and it was stubborn to use a kind word but under the paint the casting was very rough. If your going to refinish your saw in other than baked enamel think again for as a working saw it will come off faster than you sprayed it on as it won't handle the bumps and knocks that the origional coating did.

On my saws which now are more show ponies than work saws thats OK as i retouch any chips or scratches with a small brush, can't have my girls not lookin their best.

Duco or 2 pack epoxie style paints dry hard but are fragile especially epoxy paint or 2 pack it a pain to repair or tough up.

Mc Bob.

http://www.users.bigpond.com/ozflea/saws.html

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Mate a lot of those origional finishes are baked enamel and especially Stihl have applied a reasonably heavy coat as i have just tried to remove the paint off an old 015 and it was stubborn to use a kind word but under the paint the casting was very rough. If your going to refinish your saw in other than baked enamel think again for as a working saw it will come off faster than you sprayed it on as it won't handle the bumps and knocks that the origional coating did.

That's what I suspected. Thanks.

Jeff

 

[buckduck]

Painted then...

Here's a before/after picture from two years ago.

 

[buckduck]

...and painted now.

Yesterday's pic. I do have a few chips off the saw, but she still looks good.

 

[buckduck]

... one other paint job

Picture of 026, sans muffler, year ago last fall.
2nd pic is the pair, yesterday.
I haven't used either of them a lot, (the 66 for lack of need, and I have another 026 that I use regularly) but they both have certainly been used since painting.