*** WARNING ***
ML Campbell Wood Finishing Systems by Sherwin Williams are JUNK!!!
I have painted bikes, cars, boats, furniture, houses, interiors, exteriors and many more substrates using all types of paints for the past 50 years.
I was told by some professional painters, that ML Campbell’s wood painting system was ideal for painting wooden cabinets.
What a HUGE MISTAKE to listen to them! Here is my experience with this horrible paint system by products and issues.
Primer:
Applications
The primer is very difficult to work with in that you CAN NOT touch it or get anything on it before you shoot the Magnaklear Pre-Catalyzed Conversion Coating over the top because the primer attracts dirt and is virtually impossible to remove any mark(s). You have re-shoot the primer to cover the dirt or marks otherwise they will bleed through. Also, you must spray the substrate at least two times because if you do not any underlining defects or colors will bleed through after you shoot Magnaklear.
Clean up
Totally sucks the Primer does not stay wet long enough to easily wipe off. You must keep the surface that you are cleaning wet with Lacquer Thinner otherwise the primer dries so quickly that you cannot remove it.
Magnaklear:
Contaminated Product
I purchased eight cans at nearly $80 a-gallon thinking that I was buying the best painting system for wood projects. I had to buy the Materials from a specialized hardware store that required a business account to make a purchase. Five out of the eight can were contaminated with small black specks. I thought that the debris might have been airborne in the spray tent; however, I noticed that on several occasions that a dark particle would fly out of the tip of my spray gun when applying the Magnaklear.
To prevent such issues, I thoroughly cleaned the gun several times with lacquer thinner prior to using it. The black 1/32nd sized particles could have never come from my gun since I never used shot black paint through it. I opened up previously used cans trying to determine the source of the debris and noticed that there were several small particles in the bottom of the can. I couldn’t believe it! How could ML Campbell’s manufacturing process allow contaminates into the batch at $80 a can. In 50 years of painting I have never seen this.
I contacted the local distributer and told them what was happening and he said, they had never seen that before—standard response. I took two of the contaminated cans to him so he could see the issue. He did not know what to do. Nothing positive ever happened after bring this to their attention.
Given that I had already applied two cans to the cabinets, I couldn’t go back and re-sand and re-prime and repaint all of them. Doing so would have taken 20 hours and hundreds of dollars in purchasing more paint, sandpaper and other materials. The only logical solution was to use three filters together to prevent any further particles from being sprayed out of my gun.
See attached photos
Easily Stains
My wife was making a red cake and during the process she opened several cabinet doors with her hands not thinking anything of it. The red cake food coloring stained the Magnaklear finish! I tried using Dawn hand soap, toothpaste as an abrasive to remove it, but it didn’t work. I also used Acetone and Lacquer Thinner to see if that would pull out the red color, but it didn’t. Keep in mind this paint job had only been on for two months so they still looked new. Finally, out of desperation I used liquid bleach and applied it four or five times with a microfiber clothe to bleed out the color. After, about an hour of setting on the surface most but not all of the red came out. What was interesting, wife got the same red coloring on our oil-based walls and the red came right out with Dawn soap.
Brittle
The Magnaklear is extremely brittle and chips very easily and is impossible to repair after it has been applied and dried. I had to re-sand many cabinets and start over to fix all the bad areas. I tried to remove a couple of small drips by using my fingernail. The drips came off as a chip and broke. This product does not have any flexibility.
Yellowing
If you end up using this crap you better account for the “Yellowing Effect” the product has will alter or change the original color. I was not aware of the yellowing until after I sprayed it and the product had dried! I was so pissed I have never had a “Clear Coat” change the base color as bad as this terrible product. One other warning you better make sure you apply the exact amount of Magnaklear on each surface because if you do not you WILL see a color difference when placing two side-by-side if they have not been sprayed exactly the same.
Touching Up
Good luck if you chip, scratch or scrap the surface after you have finished a job. YOU CAN NOT touchup or repair any of these issues the primer and top coat are impossible to blend over a damaged area, so you have to redo the entire area to blend it back in. If the finished surface gets dirty you CAN NOT rub the surface too hard because it will buff the topcoat and turn shiny, which will cause it to look glossy unlike the rest of the area!
Surface preparation
Before I applied any of the ML Campbell material, I degreasing the surface to prevent any grease from getting on the bare wood. I sanded all the surfaces down to the wood to minimize any potential bonding issues. I also wiped the entire surfaces with Acetone, then I lightly used rubbing alcohol to pull out any grime, water or gunk. I completed this two-month process and did everything in my power to make the finish project was perfect.
I contacted Sherwin Williams after I had fished all the work to take accountability for their mistakes. Their Regional Manager reached out me after I sent an email to their corporate office and he referred me back to the local distributer. I contacted them and provided the saved filters and cans for evidence. I had to follow up with them three times over several weeks for updates rather than him calling me. Great customer service!
The local distributer told me “basically I just wanted this problem to go away” because “Sherwin Williams is the largest paint manufacture in the world and they are not going to do anything about this complaint”.
Awesome right! You pay top dollar for a product that is defective and have to deal with all the application issues yet they screw you over!
Final Update
Two months after the project was finished several locations have split and started to crack! If all this evidence does not scary or prevent you from using this horrible and expensive product then I wish you the best of luck you will need it as well as a lot of patients. See attached photos.
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