Question on Synthetic Stock Painting

[Potshot21]

Howdy folks!

I've done a few wood stocks and one synthetic stock with rattle can camo. But the paint quickly began to rub off the synthetic stock and looks like hell.

My question is should I "rough up" the surface with a fine sand paper to help the paint adhere better? Or would a simple clear coat fix the paint wearing issue?

Thanks!

Bill

 

[TheTooner]

It depends.

The condition of the surface is always a crucial factor in paint adhesion. It should certainly be clean. If paint goes over dirt, grease, oil, it isn't attaching to the actual surface and it comes off with the contaminant eventually. So will any clear coat over it. If your paint is adhering properly but then coming off because of abrasion in handling and use then a clear coat may help protect against that.

Generally a light sanding of a clean surface helps the paint adhere. Clean again after sanding before painting. But lots of paints don't stick to certain materials no matter how clean they are. Plastic surfaces are an example. A primer may help if it is the right primer. Primers are made with different chemistry depending on what they are wanted for. You would be wanting an adhesion primer, i.e. it is chemically constructed to be good at sticking to surfaces and easy for other paints to stick to it. Then the topcoat paints provide colour, waterproofing, wear resistance, etc.

Krylon has a range of spray paint called Fusion which they claim is good at bonding chemically with plastic surfaces. Their ultra flat camouflage spray paints have this Fusion formula for sticking to plastic. I've used them on several synthetic stocks and they are working well. Not perfectly, but working well. Easy enough to touch up, too.