Shop term for the texture of a surface ready for paint: blast profile on steel, sanding scratches on old coating, or the slight roughness of a primer still inside its recoat window. Coatings bond partly by mechanical grip, so a smooth, glossy or burnished surface needs scuff sanding or sweep blasting first. A surface with good tooth drags a little under a fingertip.
Heard on the job
That old epoxy is glossy as glass, scuff it till it has some tooth or the urethane will peel.
Also heard as
- bite
- key
Related terms
Anchor profile
Peak-to-valley roughness that blasting cuts into steel so a coating can grip, given in mils or microns.
Pull-off adhesion test
Test that glues a dolly to a coating and pulls it off to measure how strongly the coating sticks.
Chalking
Powdery residue on an aging coating surface as sunlight breaks down the binder.