column painter?

Paint would FOR SURE be cheaper than powder coat.....for one,you will most likely have to pay to ship the column off to have it powder coated because not many places do that stuff locally.

BUT powder coating has a very tough finish that can withstand scratchs pretty good and chips aswell.... powder coating is basically like this (from what I know....Im no expert on it) powder coat is a dusty like powder that is poured into what looks like a futuristic ray gun (kind of like a spray gun for painting cars) you plug an inlet air house into the gun fro man air compressor which propels the powered....the gun is connected to a power box which plugs into an electrical outlet and positively charges the powder as it is released from the gun. ...there is a ground clamp also coming from this box that you clamp to the part you are coating....when you spray the powder coat the grounded part attracts the positively charged powder and sticks it to it......you then take that part and put it in a "oven" to bake the power onto the part ....( I believe its a plastic based material ? but not positive) it melts down and adheres to the part and gives a very stong long lasting finish.

you pay the higher dollar for the longer lasting results.

BUT if you want to only spend $20.00 and paint it...you will get just as clean of a looking finish out of it...it just wont be as strong but the question you need to ask yourself is ....how much abuse do you plan on putting your column through where you think it needs to have such a strong finish?

paint came factory on them and held up well so I would say save the money and paint.

But if you have the extra cash and want a very long lasting finish than look into powder coating and if you do decide to go that route than look up leanna ( cudachick1968 ) she will get you one heck of a job.

if she chimes in she will be able to answer any questions you have about powder coating.

sorry for the long messages jsut trying to help you out with as much info as i can think of