DIY Hammertone?

Jovi Bon Kenobi

Jovi Bon Kenobi

Well-known member
Does anyone here have experience using rattle can hammered/Hammertone style paints? This would be for a raw aluminum wah shell enclosure from Smallbear. If so, a few questions. Surface prep tips? Do I use primer first? Clear coat after? Any brand recommendations?

Muchas gracias
 
I've used it before, years ago. It's easy enough to do and turns out pretty good. Once it fully hardens it's much tougher than regular spraypaint.

I didn't do any surface prep or primer, I just sprayed it on and waited. You have to put it on fairly thick so it bubbles and creates the hammered effect.

This was Rust-oleum. No clear coat afterwards but I did eventually stamp them with Stazon ink.

It's not quite as glossy after it cures (they were both still wet in these pics).


Little Boxes.jpg Gray.jpg Copper.jpg
 
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Robert said:
It's easy enough to do and turns out pretty good. Once it fully hardens it's much tougher than regular spraypaint.

I didn't do any surface prep or primer, I just sprayed it on and waited. You have to put it on fairly thick so it bubbles and creates the hammered effect.

This was Rust-oleum. No clear coat afterwards but I did eventually stamp them with Stazon ink.
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Those look perfect for what I'm going after! That answers all my questions. Off to Lowe's tomorrow. Thanks!
 
Coincidentally here is a Reverb listing I just found of the copper one from three years later (if the image date stamps are correct) and it looks like it held up fairly well.
reverb.com

BuGGFX Handmade Mosfet Marshall JTM45 Emulator | Reverb

Used BuGGFX Handmade Mosfet Marshall JTM45 Emulator. This pedal is based on a mosfet circuit that emulates a Marshall circuit. Has a crackle OK gain control that is common for mosfet booster circuits. The pedal is like a Zvex Box of Rock without the boost switch. Produces overdrive to mild distor...
reverb.com reverb.com
 
Rustoleum stuff is great! I typically still use primer and sand the surface still, but it's not necessary. I've used it to spray over rusty garden posts before and it stuck fine.

I've found that to get a good hammered look you have to be spraying much closer than you typically spray, moving at a medium-slow place.

Temperature has also affected outcome, in my experience it almost always looks better when I spray on a cooler (65ish) day than when I do a really hot day. It goes really flat pretty quickly on the hot days but maybe it's just my technique.
 
All good tips, thanks. I've sprayed a few guitars with nitro rattle cans so this should be a lot easier than the ~20 coats for that process, haha. For that it worked best warmed up a bit, but it makes sense to be colder so it doesn't cure as fast, allowing the the hammer effect to move and set. Seems like one confident coat would work better than multiple dust coats, like when spraying metallics. I'll be doing some test pieces to be sure.
 
I recently used the Rust-oleum brand hammered spray paint on a pedal and was very pleased by the results. It’s went on super smoothly, and feels very sturdy. Plus it looks pretty cool.
 
HamishR said:
Yeah I don't think dust coats work with hammertone! You could wear one while painting I guess...
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It seems like I might have dusted on a first coat to act as a sort of under coat once or twice, but you have to lay it on pretty thick to get the actual hammered effect.

The paint bubbles (almost like fizz) to get the hammered look, occasionally that will leave small spots where you can see the aluminum... spraying on a thin coat first could prevent that.
 
Thanks for all the tips and advice! I just sprayed my raw aluminum wah enclosure from Smallbear and it turned out pretty well! I used Rust-Oleum Hammered (copper). There are a few "void dots" which is like orange peel, but they are mostly unnoticeable. I sprayed outside on a piece of cardboard with a riser underneath the enclosure to lift them up a bit. If I were to do it again I would recommend hitting the sides a tad heavier than the top surfaces...because gravity. The tops look the best because it went on thick and flat. The sides didn't "hammer-effect" as well as the top because there was no pooling for the magic to happen. I suppose I could have mounted the enclosure pieces to a spray stick and controlled the angle better...maybe next time.

For surface prep, I lightly wet sanded with 320 grit, washed it well with soap and water, then dried it well. In hindsight, I think would have preferred to even out some of the machining process marks even more than I did with more aggressive sanding. These raw enclosures come with a lot of differing surface textures, some areas being smooth and others having rough sanding lines. While the claim on the can that says it "hides imperfections" is true, I could still see them in some of the more aggressive machined spots. No primer or clear coat was used, though primer would have maybe solved some of these minor hiccups.

My spraying technique was one confident coat which consisted of 3 consecutive steady passes from about 10-12 inches away. Sides first, top last. 60% outside humidity at about 65°F. The spray paint can and enclosure were on the colder side when spraying, about 60°F.

If you look closely you can see a few of the orange peel "void dots". Otherwise, I am quite pleased!
PXL_20201024_221835004.jpg

PXL_20201024_220458994.jpg

Thanks again!
 
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I usually let my spray cans sit in the sink full of medium hot water for 10-20 minutes first, usually helps! Other than that, looks fantastic dude! Orange peel kinda suits hammertone in my opinion haha.
 
Nostradoomus said:
I usually let my spray cans sit in the sink full of medium hot water for 10-20 minutes first, usually helps! Other than that, looks fantastic dude! Orange peel kinda suits hammertone in my opinion haha.
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Thanks! Yeah, I usually did too when I sprayed nitro on guitars...but I had taken the advice here and went colder which seemed legit considering you want it to cure slower for the magic to happen. I have some junky old raw aluminum that I'd like to do a test on at some point. I'll try it warmer on em.

And, I agree about the orange peel :D
 
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