Painting MDF, small area — alternative to shellac primer?

October 22, 2024 9:02 AM

What product could work as a primer in a small area of MDF?

I painted a MDF bookshelf by first applying wood filler + shellac primer, and it looks great. But I somehow missed the end of two shelves, it's a very small area , I run out of primer, and don't want to buy a whole can of shellac just to use an ounce! Can I just paint directly over the wood filler? Or what would be a good alternative for a small area?

posted by plant or animal to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (5 answers total)

What kind of paint are you using over the primer?
posted by aramaic at 9:20 AM on October 22, 2024

Response by poster: Acrylic
posted by plant or animal at 9:31 AM on October 22, 2024

Best answer: Acrylic paint should be fine just on its own, I would think. I would just test a small inconspicuous area of raw MDF (the back of the leg, the bottom) to make sure the water content of in the paint doesn't make the MDF swell.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 9:39 AM on October 22, 2024 [2 favorites]

Best answer: If the filler has been sanded smooth and is fully dry, I'd go for it, but yeah test on a piece of scrap just to be sure -- there are innumerable filler formulations out there in the marketplace, and some of them can show through or "reactivate" with some paints, creating a tacky surface that doesn't look right. When observing your test piece, hold it at different angles to the light -- I frequently encounter patches that look weird when the light hits them wrong, but which looked fine when viewed at a different angle. My kitchen ceiling is one such example, alas.
posted by aramaic at 9:52 AM on October 22, 2024

MDF and wood filler will both take almost any kind of paint really well. MDF endgrain can absorb a ton of paint, so it may take multiple coats with sanding in between to get a nice, smooth finish.
posted by that's candlepin at 11:20 AM on October 23, 2024