Deveau Intertalk Candlestick

[wds]

I've fallen behind on some of my phone projects, but got caught up on a couple of them this weekend.  Thee first one is the Deveau candlestick.  Really turned out nice.  I'm learning on the paint, that if I don't like the finish, to sand it down with 2000 grit paper and then polish it back up.  I'll probably send the mouthpiece out to be nickel plated so it matches a little better.  The nickel is all original, and cleaned up much better than I first thought it would.  That's a "solid" receiver.  I'll post my other C/S in a couple days.

[Bill]

Nice! Now, some details regarding the paint, please. How smooth did you sand the base and stem before you applied the paint? Did you prime? What did you paint it with? How many coats? Did you bake? Did you paint the receiver, too, or just sand it (it looks good, but a different gloss from the base and stem)?

Thanks - aways learning.

Bill

[wds]

How many coats, and whether or not I bake seems to depend on the weather and time allowed for the project.  On this one, I applied about 3 coats.  I got a run on the stem, so I had to strip it again and repaint.  I always strip down to the metal, then sand with 300 grit wet/dry sandpaper until smooth.  I haven't been priming, but maybe I should.  It was humid when I painted this one, so I baked it at about 175 degress for half an hour to prevent the paint from reacting to the humidity and turning white.  Sometimes when it's hot out -  and it's been in the 90's here for a while, the paint will dry too fast, and not flash properly.  Any rough spots get lightly sanded with 2000 grit paper, then buffed back out.  I've been using Novus, but I'm looking for a good rubbing compound to use instead of the novus.  The receiver is not painted - it was polished with polishing compound.

I dislike paint jobs that look like you used a $4 spray can, but also don't want to spend $100 on a professional paint job.  So just taking a little extra time with the sanding and buffing seems to be turning that $4 paint job into a $11 or $12 paint job!