OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Paint and Decals Will the real hammertone paint please stand up?

I am not sure if I am allowed to mention brand names here. Moderators can blank out the names if there is any problem.

Over the past 6 months or so I've been trialing different brands of hammertone paints in pressure packs. Brands such as Hichem and Septone and Rustoleum all make paints that they claim to be "hammertone" in a variety of different colours. There are other brands available too like Dulux. Some use variations on the name, such as "hammered finish" and "hammercoat".

I must say I have been very disappointed by all three of these brands, although Rustoleum was about the best of the three.

In some cases the hammertone quality is barely visible; in most cases not visible at all. Sometimes with hammertone paints, the hammertone quality only appears if you put the paint on slightly thicker. Well I tried that and all I got was thicker paint. Both Septone and Hichem "hammertone" paints performed poorly, giving a rather dull, mat-like finish. I guess you could call the finished product "sandpapery", but it is definitely not a quality hammertone finish. I guess they could be termed "hammered", given that the texture is slightly rough, but "hammered" with what exactly???

The only spray paint that performed as a true hammertone paint, and provided a result that was almost identical to the original vintage hammertone paint on a mower base, was a little known brand called UltraColor. As far as I am concerned this is the ONLY true hammertone spray paint currently on the market. Unless other people know of any other brands?

Hello Vint_Mow
This is a great review of the products available.

This topic could have easily slotted into the Show & Tell forum.
Show and Tell is a review forum, currently underutilised.

Because it is so specific, I feel it best remains here.

Yours is an honest personal review that may help members down the track.
There is hammertone and then there is HAMMERTONE.

It may be that this paint finish is very sophisticated.
It's luck to get it right 'out of the can'.

I admire the paint specialists that know their craft.

Many thanks for this review.

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Jack

Thankyou for sharing this information
I myself am going to repaint a base shortly. I have sanded it back to bare metal and will be doing the rustoloem job on it. From what I hear from friends that work in the automotive paint industry aerosol fans will only offer so much. Custom paint mixed for commercially will always have more to offer especially how it's applied also.
But I think for my 80s victa il be happy with a job that will look more respectable than what it was.

TJ,
I bought a 4 litre can of grey hammertone from Pompies Marine in Mordialloc at the start of the lockdown and the finish could only be described as excellent. One coat and finish could not be faulted

Sounds good norm
Il have to enquire. I am doing upa. V40 camanndo for myself at the moment and pretty much going to freshen it up from ground up so happy to go with quality

Thx

Hi TJ,
big advantage of the paint I used is the quick drying time I think it was something like 20 mins but it would be a bit slower at this time of the year. Not sure where you live but if in the SE suburbs (can't travel far at the moment) I could give it a coat of grey. I think I also have some green but not sure how quickly that will dry.

Oh wow 20mins is spot on.
I plan on keeping this cammando. So I want it immaculate. I'm in the northern suburbs and it's absolutely freezing! Thanks for that. I'm planning on going grey as it was that already. Any tips on getting the metal parts shiny again? Like the height adjuster the axles etc? Buffer disc? It's almost like the axles need to be flappered obviously years of abuse there get dented and scratched and loose that shiny look