Home | Woodshop | Travel | Old House | About

Milk Paint – Part 1

2012.04.15

Tool chests were traditionally painted on the outside, generally in a dark shade of green or blue, or black.  Usually the choice was oil-based paint: a combination of linseed oil, turpentine, white lead, and naturally-derived tinting pigments.  Some other paints available were whitewash, distemper / calcimine, tempera, gouache, and milk-based.  Modern paints are more sophisticated, but some of these traditional paints are still around.

I have decided to use milk paint made by The Old Fashioned Milk Paint Company.  I bought some at Woodcraft, but the company also sells directly through their website.  It comes as a powder stored in a foil pouch inside a little paper bag.  Milk paint contains casein (milk protein), lime (calcium), and pigment(s).  I chose a color they call Federal Blue.  It is lighter than the usual tool chest shades, which I find a little gloomy.

Because milk paint is mixed with water, it will raise the grain of the wood when applied.  To reduce this effect, I spritzed the bare wood with a plant sprayer and wiped it down, let it dry, then hand sanded with 150 grit.  I then cleaned with mineral spirits.  I taped off the top lip of the chest above the dust seal, where painted and unpainted surfaces will meet.

I mixed the powder and water in a plastic cup, using a popsicle stick to stir.  A stirring attachment for a drill would probably be better, to reduce clumped solids.  The paint can be applied with a variety of methods; I used a natural bristle brush.

I decided to start with the bottom of the chest.  It probably doesn’t need to be painted, but I figured it would be a good place to practice and discover problems.

The first problem was that I had mixed the paint too thick.  It was difficult to spread, but had good coverage.  When my first batch was almost gone, I mixed some more.  This time it was too thin, but I added a little more pigment and ended up with what I think is the correct consistency.  Milk paint is somewhere between a paint and a stain, going on thin and soaking into the wood more than covering the surface in a film.

As the paint started to dry, the color appeared lighter and the grain of the wood showed through.  Also visible are the brush marks and places where I applied the paint too thick or it started to run.  Well, there’s sanding and another coat to come, so hopefully I’ll fix some of those problems.  But the brush strokes and variable color are part of the “charm” of milk paint.