I need help with the perfect finish

[drayton]

Hello All!
This is a plea from someone who really needs some help. I'm an art degree student in england and for my current project I'm sorking on some stained glass windows taken out of my old house. They're basically the glass in white wood frames. The outside of the frames were really battered so I started using wood putty to make them all smooth. My question is, how can I make them really smooth... almost the shiney appearance of plastic? I apologise, but I know hardly anything about woodworks, and nothing about what materials are best. I just want to have really super smooth edges to my frames. The perfect finish

hope that makes sence,
thanks

[Master Splinter]

If you are going to put them back into service on the house, don't put too much effort into it. Smooth them off with sandpaper and slap on some primer and enamel paint. That's about as good as it will get.

More effort than that will basically be hours of work for very little extra improvement. The timber will move with the seasons as its moisture content changes - you can't stop this - and areas that you have filled may become more visible as the wood moves. That's the nature of timber.

You may get better results by removing the putty (you dont say what sort it is) and replacing it with an epoxy based adhesive mixed with a filler. (see some of the threads on boatbuilding in these forums).

Visit your local ship chandlers and have a look at the marine paint solutions - these are basicaly the state of the art in weatherproof finishes for timber. The key to a smooth finish is sanding the wood and filler smooth - work up to a 300 grit sandpaper (finer than that is a waste of time for a painted finish on natural timber exposed to the elements).

If you really want to be perfect, throw the old windowframes out and get new ones made out of powdercoated aluminium; that'll give you a very smooth finish and probably the highest gloss finish that doesnt require continual maintennance.

If its just for display (wont be going back on the house), fake up a window frame out of medium density fiberboard (MDF), as this already has a very smooth finish. For smoothest results, use spray on primer and topcoat.

[surfdabbler]

I'll second everything master Splinter has said.

For indoor use, bathroom cabinets are often made from MDF, and then sprayed with a very shiny plasticy enamel finish. We had some custom cabinets made up a few years ago, and they look really good.

Another possibility is to paint them white, and then put a 2-pack epoxy finish over the top. I've been wanting to try this in black or white for my harps, but I've never tried it out, so I can't recommend any particular process.

But again, I'd only recommend those for indoor use. For outdoors, just get a good quality enamel paint, follow all the priming and preparation instruction, and bob's your uncle.