Painting over a crinkle finish?

I've found a fairly nice workbench at Costco, it's not on the Costco website, but very similar to THIS ONE made by Whalen; Just a bit fancier with stainless front pull out drawers and 2 sidemount, or wallmount stainless front cabinets. I really don't like the black crinkled powdercoat finish. Can I just prime and paint over the crinkled paint? or do I have to strip the finish?

Rough vs smooth!

To eliminate the crinkle, you must sand it away. I don't think I would mess with strippers, still must sand anyways. Maybe less sanding with just smoothing the crinkle away. Perfect, perfectionist paintjob, requires taking the crinkle all the way off. Start from scratch. You can make it look really nice, without too much work, if the perfectionist thing's not in you. I Too have seen the bench at Costco. Randy

Crappy looking paint huh?

Thanks Randy,
So you know how bad that paint job looks huh?

Rob

My steel workbench(as compared to my woodworking bench which isn't painted) is grey painted steel (maybe 40 yrs old finish) and I cannot imagine giving a crap what the paint is like? I beat the crap out of stuff in the vise that's mounted on it, spill oil,etc., so why does the finish matter other than to keep down rust or assist with cleanup? I do see crinkles being harder to wipe down grime. The best benches are industrial quality and I've never seen a crinkle finish industrial anything.
My fondest wish for my benches is to actually see the top of them as they become piled up!

My fondest wish for my benches is to actually see the top of them as they become piled up!

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That's why our Creator gave us opposable thumbs ... so we can built more work benches as the old ones become covered up with stuff.

My fondest wish would be for more floor space to be able to walk around all of the work benches....

So why not just trim a piece of 1/4" Masonite to fit the top of the bench; no paint required, it will protect the top of the bench, stuff won't slide around on it like on bare steel, and can be replaced in a couple of years when it's been beaten sh*t.

Fact is that 2x6's and a piece of tempered masonite make great bench materials if not welding. I actually had one steel bench-came form an old school-that had a sheet of hard asbestos material on it from the factory. I later removed it & one son uses it with a sheet of plywood on top & box store legs. I use the base with a home made maple 2 1/2" thick top and caster wheels as my wood working bench-currently covered with Bultaco parts!