Paints for camp fixtures and furniture?

[Bark-eater]

I'm going to be making a bunch of camp fixtures and furniture out of wood, starting with tent poles, a couple chests/crates and at least some sort of chair. I'm kind of inclined to shmunder all the wood with linseed and bees wax finish, which is a more civilized alternative to the WD40 and motor oil finish all my wooden toolboxes got when in service.

I've seen a reference stating that tent poles should be painted, and I've seen camps and pictures of camps where all the wood is painted, some times everything is one color, some times there are all sorts of colors.

So I was wondering what kind of paint would be practical for knockabout gear? The colors I see are in the colonial milk paint pallet, but milk paint is kind of expensive, and for outside woodwork needs to rely on a layer of was over the paint to ad a bit of moisture resistance.

I've got a gallon of red oil based barn paint, that I was going to try on canvas. Any reason not to use this on everything?

One thing I want to make is a painted ground cloth for the tent. This I will use latex paint on, just because of fire safety. I think it would be ok for all the wood work, but I'm do associate latex paint with bad paint jobs that peels off in sheets.

So I was wondering if anyone here had any recommendations for functional period wood finished. Thanks Woody

 

[Randis]

I’m pretty happy with milk paint. My tent poles and a dry sink are painted. Come as a dry power. Mix it 1:1 with water. Place a marble in the can. Seal up and give it a shake.

If I want to see the wood grain, I use a tung oil with stain.

 

[hawkeye2]

I painted a ground cloth for my tent and a haversack with a brick red latex paint mixed 50/50 with water and it turned out great. One coat and it remains flexible. I have a chest and a chair painted with a correct shade blue latex (chair with black painted on and wiped off). I also did a chest with gray latex porch & deck with the black antiquing. All have held up well.