Ep17: The 5 Types of Primer Every Furniture Artist Should Know

Grab the Primer Power Wordbook here: ValFrania.com/PrimerWorkbook.

In this episode of the Primer Power Series, Val untangles the five primer types that every flipper bumps into sooner or later — shellac-based, oil-based, water-based, bonding, and stain-blocking. You’ll learn what each one actually does, when it matters most, and how to choose the right one without second-guessing yourself.

Real stories, real projects, and yes… a few tongue twisters. (Say “shellac-based stain-blocking bonding primer” three times fast — I dare you.)

Val Frania

Hey, friends, welcome back to Flipping Furniture for Profit. I'm your host, Val Frania. And today we're continuing our Primer Power Series. This series is dedicated to helping beginners understand primer without feeling overwhelmed or confused.

Last episode we talked about when you need primer and when you can skip it. Today we're diving into something even more practical, the five types of primer every furniture artist should know. Not twenty. Not twelve. Not the dizzying array the internet might tell you about just five, five that actually matter in real world flipping. And I'm going to walk you through each one with examples, stories, in the same, "Let me make it easy for you" energy that I typically bring to my Blueprint students. So let's get started.

Understanding primer categories in real people terms, that's an unusual thing that you're not going to hear very often. There's technically dozens of primers on the market, different formulas, finishes, tints, applications. But in the furniture flipping world, we only need to care about five of them. They each do something different. They each solve a specific problem. And when you understand them, choosing the right one becomes so much easier. The five are shellac based primers, oil based primer, water based primer, bonding primer, and stain blocking primer, which often overlaps one and two but deserves its own category.

Let's take them on one at a time. Okay, oil based primer is the older cousin of shellac. Strong, effective, very smelly and very messy, but incredibly dependable. It blocks stains and tannins extremely well, making it easy to be useful on woods like cherry, mahogany, oak, and heavily stained pieces, while the shellac based primer dries faster. Oil based primer is still a favorite for many furniture flippers because it levels really well, it sands really well, and it creates an incredibly durable base. Now take note, if you need to sand for whatever reason, be careful not to sand through the primer. That would negate its power to block any stains or tannins.

At our house, DH handles most of the oil based priming, which is what we prefer. We prefer the effectiveness of oil based for our pieces. And he doesn't mind the cleanup. He's a keeper. Just remember, if you prime with the oil based primer, glove up and mask up. Safety first. Don't forget. We use the Zinsser Cover Stain oil based primer. It's white and it's tintable. Sometimes we'll tint it gray. The label says stick to any surface without sanding, but we always sand before we prime. Okay. Next, the shellac based primers. If primer were a superhero movie, the shellac based primer will be the one wearing the cape. It's the one you're going to hear the most about when you ask questions on Facebook. Most people say get shellac based. It's the strongest stain blocker, the fastest drying, and the most reliable product, that you can use when you're fighting stubborn tannins or unpredictable woods. This is the primer that saves projects, especially when you're painting whites, creams and pastels or covering over red orange yellow toned woods like cherry, mahogany, pine or oak.

If you've ever painted something white and had yellow streaks or pink blotches show up afterward, shellac based primer is what would prevent that. Remember my pine dresser story? If I had used a shellac based primer back then, those yellow knots would not be haunting me today. Now here's what most beginners don't know. Zinsser actually makes two different shellac style primers in the BIN family, and each one has its own strengths. When you read online about the favorites of fellow flippers, they never tell you which one they're talking about.

Here's the two types of shellac based primers. The Zinsser Bin Original Real Shellac is alcohol based. This is the classic the old school shellac primer. It's incredibly strong, dries in minutes, and stops bleed through better than anything else on the market, but also has a strong smell and it requires denatured alcohol or ammonia for cleanup. It's a bit less pleasant to work with, but this is the big guns primer, the one you pull out when nothing else is working for you.

And then there's the BIN Advanced Synthetic Shellac is water based. This is the one many furniture flippers use, and I'm sure it's the one that the flippers are using when they suggest a shellac based primer and it's the one we occasionally use when not using cover stain oil based. It gives you shellac like performance, like easy application, lower odor, simple soap, and water cleanup. It's excellent for everyday furniture flipping and still blocks tannins and stains pretty well. I do occasionally hear of someone who had trouble, but for the most part, this is the one a lot of people use that want a water based easy cleanup.

I'd prefer not to use an oil based in my home workshop because of the smell, So this one fits the bill if I don't need something more powerful and DH isn't available to spray prime for me out in our garage. So which one should you choose? There's a lot of information, isn't it? Think of them as two versions of the same hero. BIN Original Shellac Based, the strongest stain blocker for severe tannins in urgent situations.

And then BIN Advanced Synthetic Shellac Based equals the everyday, friendlier version that's easier to use, but still very powerful. If you're painting something like white cream, pastel or anything covering red, orange or yellow wood tones, just use a shellac based primer. You'll save time, frustration, and a heartache of redoing that piece later. Oh, plus, those two products can also be tinted. We'll talk about why you would tint later. Okay. Next one. Plain old water based primer. This is the beginner friendly light duty option. Water based primers are usually the first one beginners reach for, and I get why they're simple, easy clean up, low odor, fast drying, budget friendly, very beginner friendly. All that's true.

But here's the truth most furniture flippers learn the hard way. Plain water based primer is not strong enough for bleed through woods. This includes products like Zinsser one, two, three, which is probably the most common general purpose water based primer on the shelf. It has its place, but it's not a stain blocker for deep tannins, and it's not designed to handle the troublemakers we deal with in furniture flipping. So where does a water based primer like Zinsser one two, three shine? Okay, you can use it on already painted pieces like woods with no stain issues, decor items, smooth surfaces where adhesion isn't critical, projects where you just need a quick, simple base. It's a great helper as long as you don't expect it to do any heavy weight stain blocking.

Here's the part beginners often miss. Just because two primers are water based doesn't mean they're equal. Zinsser one two, three is a water based primer. Been advanced is a synthetic shellac that just happens to be water based. They live in two completely different categories one two three: light general purpose. Easy. BIN Advanced. Heavy duty stain blocker. Excellent adhesion. Great for naughty or stain prone woods. Both clean up with water. Both have low odor. Both go on smoothly, but only one of them can stop bleed through, or handle the tannins. So if you're painting something white cream, pastel or anything over pine, cherry, oak, mahogany, anything that tends to misbehave, skip the one, two, three and go straight to a shellac based option like BIN Advanced or BIN Original. Your future self will thank you.

Okay, here's a different kind of a primer. Bonding primer. This is the adhesion specialist. We use STIX Bonding Primer. It's amazing. Bonding primer does just one thing incredibly well. It helps paint stick to slick surfaces. This is a primer you use for laminate, melanine, Ikea furniture, glossy dressers, factory finished pieces, anything that feels ultra smooth and shiny. One of my favorites is, like I said, is STIX bonding primer. I even use that on decor. You know, like glass pieces. It works beautifully. If you're painting a mason jar, use sticks first. If you've ever wondered how to paint those thrifted glass vases that everyone sells, use STIX. Bonding primer is not for stain blocking, it's for sticking. And it sticks really well.

Okay, now a stain blocking primer. As in the protector category, most stain blockers fall under shellac based or oil based, but I'm listing this as a separate category because beginners rarely realize that stain blocking is a very specific function, not something that every primer does. So if you're painting again, you can use it on pine, oak, pine, oak, cherry, mahogany, knotty woods, old pieces that have seen some things you need. Stain blocking. This is what prevents the yellow bleed. The pink streaks, orange haze. Mysterious discoloration. Water based just won't do it here. And have you ever heard about someone... they have painted their piece, they've put poly on top, and then the tannin is coming through. Well, they didn't prime, obviously, because the primer would have stopped that, and it was the poly that drew it through the paint and up through the poly. So it was not the poly's fault. Now, yes, poly, polyurethane does amber and polyacrylic can turn yellow. It can amber under certain circumstances. But there's a real good chance that the yellowing may have happened because it wasn't primed. Those tannins came up through.

Okay. Grey tinted primer. This is a bonus tip for you. This is one of my favorite tips. You can tint primer. I love the gray tinted primer because I can see where I've painted. It helps bold colors like pinks and reds cover better. It creates a smooth foundation and it makes painting much more enjoyable. I don't know why grey works so well for certain colors, but it just does. And we followed the advice we're given and it's not failed us. This is a great pro tip for beginners who want less frustration and fewer coats of paint. D.H. does batch priming, which is an efficiency tip for you. One of the best workflow habits I've learned thanks to D.H. is batch priming. Instead of.. Priming. Painting. Staging. Photographing. Listing. Repeat. One piece at a time. He'll prep several pieces and then prime them all in a day or two. Oh, it saves so much time and energy. Clean up mental bandwidth and it allows you to keep momentum going and you're flipping workflow. If you're busy and most of my listeners are, batch priming will change your life. I have a craft room where I keep a lot of pieces that are ready to go, and because DH is so great at doing my prepping and priming, he will do that and will stick them in that craft room. When I'm ready to paint, I just grabbed the piece and start painting.

Okay, putting it all together, here's the simple recap. They say repetition makes a huge difference in a learning curve. So let's repeat again. Shellac equals the stain blocking hero. Oil based, perfect workhorse. Water based, light duty helper. Bonding primer, stick to anything specialist. Stain blocking primer, equals protection for tannins. And remember don't buy big box paint plus primer combos. Those are great for walls, not great for furniture. Those labels can mislead beginners. Save yourself the frustration and stick with real primer. You're doing beautifully. Truly understanding these five primer categories gives you the confidence to walk into any project and choose the right product without second guessing yourself. In our next episode, episode eighteen, we're going even deeper in giving you a simple decision making formula, so you'll always know exactly which primer to grab for any piece.

And as always, if you want more step by step guidance and community, don't forget I have Furniture Flipping Blueprint where I walk beginners through the entire flipping process to get clarity and encouragement. To make the series super simple for you, I create a printable workbook that goes along with episodes sixteen through twenty. It lets you listen without scrambling for notes, and later you can look through the checklist and extra pages I put together to help everything click. If you'd like me to send it straight to your email, just head over there, ValFrania.com/Primer Workbook. ValFrania.com/PrimerWorkbook. We'll see you next week.