Gilders Paste

[rthibeau]

I recently got some gilders paste in various colors from AS&P Distribution [info@gilderspaste.com] and just used it on a few projects. It looks like shoe polish and you can rub it on with your fingers or brush it on. The colors are pretty true and the best part is when it dries (in only a few minutes) you can buff it to smooth out the finish and even get it to shine a little. It works to cover up the grinding/flap disk shine, too. Good stuff and goes a long ways.

[meco3hp]

Hello,
Could you give us some examples of what you'd use this for? I've never heard of this product before.

[rthibeau]

I heard about it on another website as a product to hide the sanding/grinding highlights on steel, so I bought some in various colors. It comes in small tins that look a lot like shoe polish and like polish, you can apply it with your fingers, a cloth, or brush. It acts more like a stain than a paint, but I think polish is closer to the way it really acts. It will cover the metal, dry, and then you can buff it out to a nice shine or leave it flat looking. The manufacturer recommends using a UV resistant clear coat after it's dried for durability and protection. It's supposed to leave a pretty good protective coating and of course whatever clear coat you use will improve that. You can put it on cold metal or metal that's not too hot to hold onto bare handed. If you spread it on the metal then wipe it off with a cloth immediately, it will fill in and color the low spots leaving the high spots untouched. I've used an old brush to really rub it into the cracks and crevices, let it dry, then buffed it and come up with a really nice sheen of whatever color it was. It comes in metallic colors as well as black, red, green, etc. It's another way to finish or color metal.

[Christopher M]

I used that at my first real job 29yrs ago as a custom picture framer.We used it for blending the finish at the mitered corners.A lot of the frames were gold leaf.