Review of the Shur-Line Touch Up Painter

The great American writer, philosopher and humorist Mark Twain often said “Scuffs happen. Just Roll with it.” I’m not sure what he was referring to but he inadvertently created the Shur-Line catch phrase of the year for their new product the Touch Up Painter. Ok, so maybe Mark Twain never said it exactly like that, but it’s certainly true – especially right after you’ve painted a wall in your home and put away the paint supplies. In just a matter of weeks your freshly painted walls can go from clean to dirty where grubby hands go rumbling across corners, edges and doorways. It’s Murphy’s Law at its worse. And if you have rambling youngsters running loose throughout your house you might as well have never painted your home to begin with.

The Shur-Line Touch Up Painter Comes to the Rescue

Touching up paint with a brush just doesn’t cut it. You always end up leaving behind big brush strokes that stand out like a sore thumb against the wall when the light hits it just right. Professional painters call that “flashing” and it’s one of the worst problems that can happen on a painted piece of sheetrock.

The only way to truly get a smooth finish on a wall that’s been painted by a roller is to paint over it again with another loaded paint roller. And if you don’t want it to flash, it has to be loaded with the same paint from the same can you first used to paint the wall. Breaking out the messy paint tray, roller covers and drop cloths make for a poor Saturday afternoon and more often than not, fixing scuffs and stains on your walls and doors is one task that quickly gets put at the bottom of any honey-do list.

Just like any good invention, the best way to make it better is by making the process smaller and more compact. So that’s what Shur-Line did when it came out with the Touch Up Painter, it shrank the roller, the paint and the problems that come with messy painting supplies.

Don’t Cry Over Spilt Paint

As with any new tool, I’m excited about getting to play with it for the first time. But I’m also skeptical as to how well it’s going to work. But it didn’t take long for me to find out how easy it is to use, how useful it really was and how simple the entire design is. The first trick is getting the paint inside of this tiny device. I’d love to see some outtake videos of the first people who tested the first designs – can you say spilled paint stains? I like how simple the idea is, to pour paint out of a can, but if you’ve ever done it without making a mess, you’re a better aim than me.

Shur-Line nails it with the easy-pour lid they provided us in their media kit. Just attach the lid to any gallon paint lid and flip up the spout. Open the roller and set the storage side of the Touch Up Painter in the storage tray face up. Flip the lid and pour a steady stream of paint without making your garage floor look like an Exxon oil spill. With the storage and pour-age issues taken care of, the true test of the Touch Up Painter was does it really work?

Scuff Remover or Bluff Maneuver?

I put the Touch Up Painter to the test on my interior garage door first. Before you begin to use the roller, you’ve got to unlock the handle by twisting it to the “paint release” position. Then you need to load the roller by squeezing the paint out of the tube and rolling it around on an old newspaper or piece of cardboard. Once it’s loaded, it’s ready to paint whatever you want. It worked great for my doors, especially around the handle. After the paint dried, the touch ups made the most scuffed up door in my house look brand new again.

After I emptied the paint and washed the Touch Up Painter out, I was ready for the next test. I was painting a few doors for a cabinet project I’m working on and I thought I’d use it to as a cut-in tool. It worked pretty well but it certainly isn’t going to replace painters tape anytime soon.

I’ve recently loaded it with a new roller wheel (they come three to a pack for less than $2) and some of my brown wall paint. I put it under my sink and I’ve used it a few times for scuffs. But when my friends come by and bring their gaggle of kids, all of a sudden it becomes a fun toy the kids actually fight over. I hope I don’t get in trouble for violating any child labor laws by making them paint away my scuffs!

You can find the Shur-Line Touch Up Painter at Lowes for around $8 (plus a few bucks for the roller refills), or, find another retailer nearest you by visiting the Shur-Line locator right here. And be sure to remember “Scuffs happen. Just roll with it.”