Ok so I got my 4,000 blades in the mail and I got the testor paint for metal and I'm all ready to paint some blades. I went ahead and painted 100 blade all red. They don't look too bad but they don't look professional to me. I want to strive towards a really nice professional look. Am I using the wrong paint? Some of the blades look like the paint has pulled away. I don't want these to start peeling on my new customers. I don't really want to get into the heat dipping and powder paint either. I've already read that the smaller blades won't preform properly if this paint is used. Another question is would you guys recommend painting both sides or just one? Swizzle

You might try an etch primer. I looked it up...it might be worth a try, $$$?

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Here's a few test blades with just spray paint. The next step will be getting the paint to stick good. What do you guys think? Swizzle

As far as preparing the surface I have only done that on a few test blades. I would really hate to have to do that with 4,000 blades...

do you have a rock tumbler with coarse grit? Just a thought.

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I got a rock tumbler somewhere..or had one. I haven't seen it in about 3 years. I don't remember getting rid of it but the thought of that definately crossed my mind. The only downside I saw to that was the back being scuffed up as well. I want to try to keep the back polished nickle. That mirror image should help to reflect the color of the beads a lot better. Someone mentioned acid etch primer. I guess they sell it at NAPA. That stuff is suppose to etch itself into the metal and give you a nice surface to paint. I'm glad you like the blades. Do they look somewhat professional to you guys or do they look like a novice paint job? My air brush is busted so I improvised and did these all by spray paint. I have several other color combo's on the way. The colors I have to work with now are: Red, Yellow, Hot Pink, Blue, Gold, Black, Green and Orange. So you could see any 2 of these colors mixed together. If you guys want to see a particular color combo let me know. I've already had a request for green and pink. Right now I have 2 sets of blades painted with the base color. One set is blue and the other set is yellow. Next is to add the secondary colors to these and take pics of what I've got so far. Swizzle

OK. I can't find my rock tumbler anywhere's so I got an airtight container and filled it with sand and blades and shook it for about a half hour. This basically just lightly scratched the surface a bit. Next I used the acid etch primer that I bought at NAPA ($8 a can) and gave a double primer coat on the blades. I'm still working on ways to use stencils instead of airbrushing. Here's the new blade design I came up with last night. What do you guys think? I believe its modeled after a design called firetiger. Swizzle

Maybe I should look into ordering spoon blanks and painting those. I think these are a bit fancy for a walleye harness. Swizzle