wrinkle paint

[Box13]

I couldnt find a better place to ask this then here in reloading equipment.Does anyone know about wrinkle paint?The kind of stuff you would find on older presses and various reloading equipment?I have several pieces Id like to refinish but would like an era correct paint to do it with.Thanks for your answers ahead of time...Robin

[Handloader109]

You can find several colors at the big box stores. I've used several colors in past couple of years. Spray heavy . Light coats don't wrinkle...... Black on a couple of motors worked well. I think rustoleum was brand

[lancem]

Baking the piece after painting helps the wrinkle also. There is also wrinkle powder coat if you have the spray equipment.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I bought an aerosol in Ace Hardware in, of all places, Kuwait City. I don't remember the brand, but they do stock other Rustoleum paints. It worked fine on my micrometer frame, although I did use several light coats - spraying the next one when the last was still slightly tacky to the touch. After all, what goes wrong with paints intended to be smooth, when the last coat wasn't dry enough? It wrinkles.

When I experimented with thicker coats, it turned out so wrinkled as to feel jagged. I think it would show dirt quite badly, and be easily marked by a blow. If I did it like that again, I would try following that with a light spray of plain ordinary black.

[W.R.Buchanan]

One of the down sides is the wrinkle finish does collect dirt. no way around that other than not letting it get dirty in the first place.

The key to this stuff is warming the piece with a heat lamp and then curing the single relatively heavy coat with a heat lamp. The heavier the coat the heavier the wrinkle.

I have done a bunch of this and it is hard to screw up. I have a C&H Shotshell Press that is next in line for the treatment.

Also it helps to have the parts completely devoid of any other paint, like bare metal.

Grit Blasting provides the best surface to paint with Wrinkle Paint.

Randy

[mdi]

FWIW; I remember making my won "Crackle Lacquer" paint jobs waaaaay back when. We would paint a base coat of enamel and a top coat of lacquer (or the other way around) and the different paints would react and wrinkle. Now it can be purchased in spray cans from most places that sell spray cans of paint...

[RogerDat]

I have the same project on my to-do list, repaint of an old C press. One thing I read was running the spray coats in cross directions helped with getting an even wrinkle, and the heat lamp (or high wattage work light). I do have to debate with myself why if I clean it to bare metal am I going to do a wrinkle coat? I'm still mulling that one over. Paint is to protect metal and I'm going to use the press, not display in a museum as a historically accurate model. Now if I leave some original paint on I would have to user wrinkle coat to match and blend in.

[rondog]

I've painted a lot of Harley cylinders in my days with black wrinkle paint. It can be a bear to get it to wrinkle correctly, but the thick coat advice is right on. Warming the part helps too, but not too hot or it'll just dry too fast. I believe a heat lamp after spraying would be good too.

[bangerjim]

Big Boxes. I use "crinkle" paint all the time on older scientific instruments to replace what the used years ago. I does attract dirt and dust like a magnet.

Spray it on and watch the magic happen.

[Mytmousemalibu]

VHT makes some good wrinkle paint! I've used it on automotive stuff, boost pipes, intakes, valve covers, etc. Plus its got a higher temperature resistance, might make it more durable in the long run?

[Box13]

Wow...Lots of advice.Thanks guys...sounds like I might be able to do it myself,that always makes me happy...Robin

[MacFan]

I use to rattle can wrinkle paint Harley parts for years. Yes, heavy coat, let it flash off good and then bake it in a low temp. oven (180-200F) for a couple of hours if you can with plenty of ventilation. Make sure it has flashed off all the solvents if you're using a gas oven. Ask my wife how hard it was for me to reattach our oven door after it blew off, in our first apartment no less. Oven doors aren't made to take much of a Woomph.

[bedbugbilly]

Geeze . . . I haven't thought about that stuff since I was in college 45 years ago. We used it quite a bit on various things we produced in our machine shop classes. This post brought back some memories!