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Painting Poles for Performance


From trail classes to jumps, poles are part of performance classes. Wood dowels cut to 3.75 inches (for 10 ft long poles) or 4.5 inches (for 12 ft long poles) are easy enough to trim to size with a small saw. But painting them without painting my fingers is another story.

I just repainted a few I had lying around by spraying them white with primer, using a clip to hold one end. When dry, I flipped it over in the clip and sprayed the other end.

To add a little color, I put painter’s tape over each end and painted the middle with a paint brush and acrylics. The width of the tape was an easy way to measure how much white to leave. The tape was also a perfect place for resting the poles while they dry. The pink paint needed a little clean up after the tape was removed. Then it’s back to the clip for a quick spray of matte finish.

And my fingers (and desk) were relatively free of paint!

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