Old painter told me to stop feathering clear and now I'm faster

This crusty guy named Dave at a shop in Cleveland kept yelling at me to stop feathering the clear coat into the panel and just spray a hard line. I thought he was crazy because everyone knows you blend it out. Finally tried his way on a fender last month and honestly it cut my buff time in half. Has anyone else actually tried a hard cut line on metallic or does that only work on solid colors?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryand2627d ago

and that's exactly what Dave was getting at. once you lay down that hard cut line and then knock it down with 1500, the transition disappears on metallics just as clean as solids. the trick is you gotta pick your spot right - I always hide mine under a body line or in a panel gap so the eye naturally skips over it. on silver or light grey metallics the hard line actually blends better than feathering because you're not fighting that mottled look from overlapping passes. I tried it on a dark blue metallic truck bed and was shook at how fast the buff job went. just make sure your clear lays down thick enough where you cut it or you'll burn through trying to level that step.

the_kai26d ago

Honestly thats hilarious how some crusty old guy yelling at you turns out to be the secret sauce. Ngl I had the exact same thing happen with a geezer named Jerry who swore up and down feathering was just making more work for yourself. Tbh I think the whole paint world is just a bunch of old dudes gatekeeping tricks until you finally give in and try them. Good on you for listening to Dave though, most guys would rather argue than save themselves an hour of buffing.