Painting on a Sawblade

Have you ever painted anything on a sawblade? I have (now), but only recently for the first time. A friend of mine asked me if I would paint a western scene on a circular saw blade for her to use as a sign for her business. Of course I told her I had never painted on such a surface, but would be willing to try. If you're interested in what all this entails, read on.

First of all, circular saw blades come in many sizes. This particular one was about 20 inches in diameter, so fairly large, and believe me, the jagged edges were very sharp. It wasn't super heavy, but one has to be careful about picking up a sawblade and transporting it without hurting oneself. It's those edges.

Since I didn't know the process of painting on a saw blade, I watched many youtube videos on this and read many articles and blog posts. They all pretty much agreed with each other.

This sawblade was full of rust on both sides. So the first job was to remove the rust. Fortunately for me, my husband offered to do this. On the large flat surfaces (both sides) he used a sanding wheel, but on the sharp edges he used a wire brush. This took him about 1-1 1/2 hours to do. The next step was to wash the blade; he used warm water and Dawn dish soap. And the last step before painting was to apply a primer for metal. He used Rustoleum Professional primer. He found it in white, black, and light gray. We chose the light gray, and he applied two light coats. This should prevent it from future rusting.

Now it was my turn. Over the gray primer I applied two coats of acrylic primer: white Gesso. Gesso is a great primer and has been my go to in the past. I only applied the Gesso on the flat surface (one side) where I would be painting. No need to apply it anywhere else.

The next step was to make a template of my design (I had previously worked on creating a design and color scheme) to the sawblade. An added plus is, my daughter had previously given me a round piece of wood almost the exact same size as the saw blade, (how often does that happen?!) so I had drawn and painted my design on this piece of wood for practice. I then made a template by tracing over the design with tracing paper (I had to cut and tape several pieces together) and transferred it to the saw blade surface using graphite paper (again I had to cut and tape several pieces together).

Now I was ready to paint! On my practice piece I used student grade acrylic paint. In the youtube videos and articles I read, most said you could use acrylic paint, a couple recommended oil paints, and one said to use enamel paints. In the end I chose to use Folkart Multi surface satin paint. It's the first time for me using this brand, and it worked well. It's thick, dries fairly quickly, the colors blend and cover well, and it's of course meant for many surfaces, including metal. You could, of course, choose a different type of paint.

My design was done in layers: first the background, then the middle ground, and lastly the foreground, which is the cowboy on the horse. As a final step, the saw blade needs to be sprayed with a clear coat, I would use Rustoleum 2X Ultra Cover Gloss clear coat. It's available at any hardware or Walmart. Follow directions on the can. I was advised to spray at least 2 coats, and then if the sign is to be outside, to apply another coat each year.

So the picture shows the finished sawblade. What do you think? I enjoyed doing this and would do it again if asked. It was quite a learning process, and a lot of fun. (and also work!)

If you think you might try this sometime, here is my process in a nutshell:

1-Remove all rust

2-Wash the sawblade and allow to dry

3-Apply metal primer to both sides including the edges

4-Apply acrylic primer (or whatever type of paint you are using)

5-Transfer and paint your design

6-Apply a clear coat

It goes without saying (at least for me) that you should have a design all planned out along with a color scheme before you begin painting on your sawblade. I was fortunate to have a piece of wood that same size, but you could just draw and color something in your sketchbook. Painting it for practice really helped me, though.

As far as how long this sawblade will last outside, I have no idea. I think it might depend on where it hangs and how much sun it gets. I will have to wait and see. (This could be the subject of another post.)

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog and leave any comments or questions you have!

God bless!

Vicky