I’m sure I’ve used this illustration before, but when you get old, repeating the same stories over and over becomes part and parcel of the modus operandi. That and looking up really big words.

A good friend has a really, really nice wood shop. A proper woodshop. Not just stuff in a garage, but rather in a purpose built shop the size of a small house. And not being a person of wood-workery, I can’t give you the technical details of what is inside, but be assured it is quite impressive. Giant suction things are everywhere to remove sawdust, flies, and probably small children if left unattended. There are machines of every variety that spin, drill, whir, sand, and generally provide many, many opportunities to slice wood and fingers equally well with a rapidity that is impressive. Though I’ve not asked, I’m quite sure there are even readily available medical kits tucked about to address such appendage misfortunes.

Adding to the electrically powered machines of dismemberment are hundreds if not thousands of examples of hand-powered hardware to make sure the wood gets the point that it will submit, regardless of how many appendages remain on the human.

Now, the point of it all is not to impress me with how many thingies and dealiemabobs hang on the walls and sit on the floor. Rather, the point is to produce magnificent pieces of woodworking wizardry that mere mortals like myself look at and say “oooooh” when I see that not one nail has been used in a dining room table.

And even as little as I know about woodworking – hammering nails is a stretch for me – it is plainly evident that he would not be able to do what he does if the lone tool he had hanging on his wall was a wood chisel. Even a really good, high quality wood chisel breathlessly spoken about by a YouTube creator.

So Why Am I Asked…

… if I recommend oils, enamels, acrylics, or pigments? And the implied question is which single one do I recommend.

Maybe it’s me, but the principle is the same as the woodshop, right? The point isn’t the product type. Rather, it is what is the best tool for the job?

When it comes to oils, enamels, acrylics, or pigments they each have their own strengths, weaknesses, and optimal use cases. Certainly there is some overlap, often more than people realize. Yet for each one there is some aspect that is either unique to one of them, or at least done best with one of them.

Certainly there are advocates for one over the other. That comes down to preference. Yet that is a personal thing, and not a hard and fast rule. A cool black and white photo with trendy coffee cup in hand is not a valid recommendation for sole sourcing weathering finishes. It’s simply one person saying “I like to do it this way.”

Yet another creator who is equally impressive may tout a completely different path for their own reasons. And none of that is an obligation to anyone else. It’s simply a data point.

Then What Shall I Do?

(Note that I didn’t write “Then what do I do”, but I switched it up with “shall”. That’s gooder English skills right there folks.)

There are several things that may be helpful to consider:

• Try multiple items – you don’t need to buy a lot of stuff, but at least grab a few options to test out. Never used oils? Get some Burnt Umber and try it. Or enamel Streaking Grime. Or an acrylic brown wash. And use it. Not just a single application and then make a conclusion. Rather, if you normally go for one product, swap up to a different media of a similar color and wrangle that thing until you figure it out.
• Consider drying times – That is a big one for me. Doing this video spam nonsense requires a certain amount of production volume to stick to my own schedule. I love oils, for example. Yes, I know about the products to speed drying. But sometimes I may have 20 minutes at 4:47AM before I head off to work and allowing something even half a day to dry is simply not an option. you may not have that constraint, but drying time is still a thing to consider.
• Availability – I’m blessed that there are several hobby shops nearby, as well as art supply stores, so most products are only a half hour drive away at most. But it’s not that way for everyone. What can you get, and how easily?
• Price – this is a big one for many. Sure a good tube of oil might be wonderful to have. But that tube of oils may be the same price as 3-4 weathering pencils. That matters.

Only after you try different things out, and really put in enough repetition to get a good grasp on proper employment can you start making actual data driven decisions about what to use, and when. And instead of ending up with a woodshop with a single tool hanging on the wall, you have many, many, many options Mahoney. And those options translate into achieving on plastic the vision you have in your head. Which is satisfying.

And thus fun.

So here’s a video about… using only oils.

Wait… I think I missed my own point…