I’ve done this so long I could do it blindfolded!” It’s just an old idiom, but in my own case it’s a good thing it’s true. Thinking back a bit or two, I’ve been in the painting profession for nearly 50 years. Like other grizzled paint shop vets, I’ve adjusted to constant change. Now well beyond retirement age, I’m intending to remain in the game, despite the old-guy physical challenges—and sadly dwindling vision.

On the upside, we’re busy in the shop! Our 1955 Chevy second series build is, for the most part, now in living color. Looking back through last summer’s snapshots, I sort of got to thinking that they might be helpful for others who may also be shy of sight, or even just struggling with inadequate lighting. Here, interspersed amidst gray primer-surfacer, we’ve got pinholes—scads of teeny-tiny, nearly invisible pinholes.

As seen right here before, our driver-side door is a reproduction from Brothers Trucks. All in all, it’s been a pleasure to work with, needing only minimal fillerwork where I may have overdone the fine-tuning of its leading edge.

Our passenger-side door is original equipment and, oh boy, it was rusty and rather beat to boot. After blasting, pounding, and patching as necessary, that door received the usual fillerwork. Further fairing involved a skim coat of thinner-viscosity filler—one of those that is advertised as “pinhole free.”

By the time these shots were snapped, our doors had been primed, dry guidecoated, blocked, and primed again for pre-paint wet blocking. For that bit of wet blocking we’d opted to use (because we can here) a liberally thinned mixture of red-oxide lacquer primer as our guidecoat. That would sand away easily, leaving red-oxide witness marks wherever pesky pinholes may try to hide. Especially for the shy of sight, the contrasting guidecoat is almost an equalizer.

Back as late as the 1970s, painters had only lacquer putty for minor surface imperfections. If it was abused, it would surely fail as it was very much prone to shrinkage. That shrinkage would begin as the putty slowly dried. Then it would swell and shrink again as soon as thinned lacquer primer was applied. We’ve all likely seen otherwise-nice older finishes spoiled by underlying lacquer putty.

Later toward the 1980s, nonshrink catalyzed glazing putties changed the game. From that point on, painters had a stable option, which would cure completely and generally very quickly. So quickly in fact, that we might spend more time mixing than actually applying the product—particularly when dealing with scads of teeny-tiny pinholes.

The job at hand will be tedious, and we really could use a pinhole-plugging product with a wider workability window. Yes, this could be a job for 3M 05096 Acryl-Green spot putty. For those who may be unfamiliar, that’s a single-component air-dry solution for small imperfections, such as minor sanding scratches and, of course, teeny-tiny pinholes.

From here, as we work our way toward a durable quality finish, we’ll make use of our chosen house-brand epoxy sealer, urethane primer-surfacer, base color du jour, and our standby urethane clear. It’s all popular stuff for shops where we are, but maybe not where you are. For that reason, let’s just sort of—ahem—glaze over the lengthy list of materials.

For the step-by-step to follow, let’s try really hard to focus on a teeny-tiny pinhole problem. Along the way we’ll spotlight two must-have products for pinhole control. In our shop, at times like these, they both have their places—and by the way, they’re both available through Summit.

2. In the past I’ve recruited better-sighted youngsters who’d point to pinholes as I’d spot-putty them one-by-one. Today I’m on my own, so this fashionable Harbor Freight headlamp just might be my little buddy.

3. Away we go! The right door (on the left) is the repaired original. The other is the reproduction from Brothers. At this stage they’re both in final prime, guidecoated, and ready for pre-paint block sanding.

5. Here our handy hose manifold is a Harbor Freight item as well. It can accommodate a sanding party of four. Even so, it’s usually just me and it’s looking as though it’ll be just me once again.

7. In theory, when contrasting guidecoat no longer shows, we might be done. For durability, however, I’ll keep blocking—in this case until red-oxide epoxy peeks through in places. So, what about the remaining red-oxide specks? Well, those are our pinholes.

10. Just for comparison, here’s our other door—our reproduction door from Brothers. This one didn’t require a skimcoat of “pinhole free” filler. Toward the center of its skin we’ve found one minor imperfection, but it’s no deeper than our primer-surfacer.

12. Once thoroughly air dried, our spot putty sands softer than its primer-surfacer surroundings. At this stage in the game that’s an advantage as for the most part, our pre-paint wet blocking is done.

14. So, what about the remaining green specks? Well, once again, those are our pinholes. By now, however, they’re properly tended to. From here let’s get set up for epoxy sealer, base color, and clear.

16. Our house-brand epoxy sealer has a weeklong window for chemical bond. With a single wet coat now applied, let’s call it a night—and continue in the morning. During the pause I’ll clean my glasses, locate my magnifier, and resume the pinhole patrol.

18. With two wet coats of clear applied, we’re stoked with what we see so far. Even at this stage, there’s a clever way to fix pinhole surprises. Quite fortunately, we won’t need to demonstrate that today.