Jump fillers - paint

[Farosh]

Hello,
I’m taking a shot at making some jump fillers since the only ones I like are the really expensive ones. I need to make my arena spookier for some of my greener horses lol. I have a design I’m ready to start.

I’m gonna get some pressure treated plywood. I need like 6 different shades of paint for the design I made. Does anyone know if acrylic paint markers work on well on plywood? I want to avoid buying 6 big expensive paint cans that I’m going to use a very a small fraction of and then never again lol. Any advice appreciated

[clanter]

get the 8 oz sample paints, most paint brands offer every color they have in samples

Benjamin Moore has 3800 colors available in samples at $5.99 each

We usually just get the miss mixed paints, surprisingly the color the standards had been pained a decade ago the color was found again in the miss mixed paint stack

[TheJenners]

This was going to be my recommendation, Home Depot etc should be able/willing to mix up the small cans for you

[LCDR]

I have built jumps for the past 40 years. Pressure treated plywood is rough on both sides and that means it doesn’t paint well. Sharp paint lines are well nigh impossible and masking tape use results in paint bleeding under. The panels will eventually start to come apart and buckle starting around the edges. Trying to paint the edges to “seal” them will not hold up very long.

I now use medium density overlay (MDO) signboard, It comes in 1/2 or 3/4 inch thick sheets. I cut and pasted the following description for anyone who isn’t familiar with the product.

“MDO, also known as Signboard, is an exterior-grade plywood with a high-quality fiber surface saturated with phenolic resin solids. The plywood below the fiber face is smooth, clear and free of patches, providing a smooth surface with minimal grain showing through. MDO plywood is water-proof and weather-resistant. This plywood is often used for exterior signs.”

Don’t be confused when you shop. MDO signboard and MDF fiberboard are two radically different products with a significant difference in price per sheet as well.

[Annie10]

For paint find the “oops paint” in your local hardware stores paint department. You can get decent colors for cheap,. I usually check every time I go, just make sure you get exterior paint.

[Farosh]

Is this something I can get at Home Depot?

I’m a complete novice at building this kind of stuff. Pressure treated plywood is what everyone told me to should get lol.

[Farosh]

This is the design I’m planning on making

I was planning on this being a smaller filler about 18” - 2’ in height. I was going to cut a round edge around the image.

I’m obviously not a professional artist lol but I did this in 5 minutes and I can do simple 2D things

[mmeqcenter]

That’s going to depend on your location. It’s on their website, but it is not available in my location.

It appears to just be resin-coated plywood. So you could cut out your ovals, and then dip/coat them in resin to get the same effect.

Pressure-treated wood in general is usually recommended for jumps because they’re outside getting rained on and sitting on the ground, so the treatment helps them last longer.
Personally I’ve never used plywood to make any of my jumps. I use 2xs and 1xs for fillers. For your seahorse, I’d cut the ovals out of a (1 or 2)x10 or (1 or 2)x12 depending on how wide you want it to be.

As far as paint, I usually get the “oops” cans for cheap. But interior paint on outdoor jumps only lasts so long, they usually could do with a repaint every year. And sometimes the paint comes off chalky on your hands when moving the jumps around.
Acrylic paint markers do work on wood, yes.
But I agree with the others that I’d be getting the little samples, in an exterior paint.

[LCDR]

Rather than painting the seahorse on a panel, another option is to do a seahorse cutout first, then paint it. Like I did with these horses. BTW this was not my idea, I found the idea on the internet. I am not a talented artist like you are, but I do like the building part of making jumps.

Or, do the seahorse painting on a piece of waterproof metal or pvc, and then fix it onto your plywood sheet. You ‘ll get a crisper look that way, and when the underlying plywood finally warps you can just move the art onto a new replacement piece.

[Farosh]

That looks great btw!!

[Farosh]

And you make the standards out of the MDO signboard?

[LCDR]

No, except for the cutouts of the horses, the rest is pressure treated lumber. I do let it dry out for a few months or longer after delivery before I build and paint. I do what I’ve heard called “stick and stack” by placing wood shims between the pieces of wet lumber to allow for air flow for drying.

I also sometimes use western red cedar. It costs more but is already dry and doesn’t twist and rack like pressure treated pine likes to do. The key with cedar is to not let it contact the ground, so I still use ground contact rated pressure treated lumber for the feet of the standards.