BIN is a shellac based primer that I use on almost every furniture painting project.
It is my number ONE furniture painting tool. What is it about this product that ranks it my number ONE tool?
What is Bleed Through?
This is a picture of drawers from a vintage desk. Do you see the pink ovals? The pink ovals are bleed through of the tannins from the wood. Tannins are naturally occurring compounds that are found in plants, wine, and wood. When you paint wood furniture, the paint makes the wood wet. The wood fibers open when the wood is wet. Once the wood fibers open, the tannins will migrate to the surface of the wood. The tannins will bleed through the paint and cause a brown or red discoloration of your paint.
BIN STOPS bleed through
BIN is a shellac based primer. The shellac is the component that is important. Shellac will block the tannins from bleeding through to the paint. Some woods are notoriously hard to stop the bleed through. Redwoods (cherry), cedar and mahogany are woods that are notorious for difficult bleed through. These woods may require 3, 4, 5… coats of primer. The picture here shows two coats of BIN primer applied. There is still a faint bleed through. This vintage desk ultimately required 5 coats of BIN!
Save time…BIN first!
I have often caused myself more work by not priming a piece of furniture. I have learned that when dealing with older wood furniture, it is better to first prime with BIN. Nobody likes to prime. We all just want to dig in and get it painted. BUT…Once you have put the work into painting the piece, you don’t want to see bleed through! If this happens, you have wasted your paint and your time. Now you will have to put a layer of BIN primer over the paint to stop the bleed through. Once the BIN dries, you will have to then repaint your piece of furniture. No one wants to have to repaint! So go ahead and prime with BIN first!
Sand or Not?
Paint will not adhere well to a slick, shiny surface. You will need to scuff sand a slick surface to give the paint something to grip onto. As BIN adheres well to most any surface, sanding prior to applying BIN seems like over kill. I have found that every now and again I have an issue with the BIN chipping off a piece. It is usually sort of a mystery as to why it chips. I have done all the same prep steps as usual. So to better ensure that the BIN adheres really well, a quick scuff sand prior to applying BIN has now been added to my prep work. I scuff sand UNLESS I am painting over cherry. Cherry wood is a notorious bleeder. I have often read, don’t sand cherry as you don’t want to break through the outer surface of the wood. I have learned the hard way that this advice is in fact true (insert eye roll as I always seem to have to learn the hard way). If you are painting over cherry wood, don’t scuff sand, just apply BIN.
I use my Critter Spray gun to apply BIN. This is the fastest and easiest way to get the piece primed and ready to paint. My Critter is my number 2 tool in painting furniture!
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