Can You Spray Hammerite Paint?

So you want to spray Hammerite? Is it even possible? Well, there is only one way to know for sure, grab my trusted sprayer and a tin of Hammerite paint and do some testing!

In order for Hammerite to work in a sprayer, it will need to be thinned. Regular Hammerite is way too thick to spray ordinarily so it needs to be thinned. So let’s see how it got on.

I will test a few different Hammerite paints as well as test them against the regular Hammerite spray paint.

The Test

So in order to test if you can spray Hammerite paint, I will be painting this jerry can below.

Let me explain why I have taped it off into three sections. The bottom third will be painted with thinned down Hammerite hammered, the middle with normal Hammerite spray paint and finally the top will be painted with thinned down Hammerite satin.

I want to use these three different paints to see whether there is a difference between thinning hammered Hammerite and normal Hammerite. The spray can is there to work as a reference, this paint is being used as intended so will be good to test the results against.

I have a hunch that hammered Hammerite may not work once thinned and sprayed, I have a feeling it won’t achieve the same hammered look.

My Sprayer

For this test, I will be using my compressor and spray gun. I know not everyone has a compressor but electric spray guns are getting cheaper and more popular. If it works with the compressor it should also work with an electric spray gun.

You can see that my trusty compressor is normally used for firing pins, so it gets an exciting change of job today, luckily little compressor.

Can You Spray Hammerite Hammered?

So it’s time to spray some hammered Hammerite and see how it works. First, we need to thin down the Hammerite. First off I will be using white spirit to thin the paints and if this doesn’t work I will use the special Hammerite thinners I also have.

Here is the original recipe, really thick paint.

Now we pour in some white spirit and begin to mix the paint down.

Now it’s time to spray!

The middle part of the jerry can has been sprayed with regular Hammerite metal spray paint. This is here to work as a control, something to compare the two thinned down paints to.

Can You Spray Hammerite Satin?

Now time to spray the Hammerite satin. This is a completely different paint to the hammered finish which is why I also wanted to test it.

Here is the satin Hammerite coming out of the tin. You can see how thick it is just from this photo, it looks almost like a treacle.

Here you can see the white spirit and the paint before I mixed it.

So now let’s get painting with it, watch the video below to see how I got on.

So below we can see the finished result, the jerry can be fully painted with the three different types of Hammerite paint.

Now let’s get some close-ups and see how the paints have done.

You can see that it still has the hammered effect that you usually get with this paint. However, it definitely doesn’t look as strong of an effect to me as it normally does. It definitely feels like it has been toned down due to the thinning.

Above is the section painted with Hammerite spray paint. It has covered the rust really well.

And above now we can see the thinned down Hammerite satin. This has worked really well, it has covered the rust brilliantly. You can’t really tell any difference between this and the can of spray paint.

So, Can you spray Hammerite paint?

Yes, I think my testing proves that. Both the hammered and satin Hammerite worked well although the hammered effect wasn’t as strong as with the full-fat paint. My testing also showed that you don’t need to use the genuine Hammerite thinners and that white spirit works just fine.

Related Posts

We have a ton of posts on Hammerite here at The Bloke Cave. Check out some of these related articles.

• How long does Hammerite take to dry?
• Hammerite Thinners Alternative
• Can you use Hammerite on Perspex?
• Does Hammerite Need Primer?
• Is Hammerite Heat Resistant?