Abstract: A coating material such as a high viscosity, low solvent content paint is applied to metal strip by means of a coater which comprises a soft-covered take-up roll which draws coating material from a reservoir and coacts with a hard metering roll (from which excess coating material is continuously removed by a doctor blade), to form a metered film on the surface of the take-up roll. The metered film is transferred to a small diameter hard transfer roll from which it is in turn transferred to a soft covered applicator roll, by which it is applied to the strip. At each line of contact between two rolls or between the applicator roll and the strip the mutually contacting surfaces travel in opposite directions (i.e., the rolls all rotate in the same sense). Preferably the peripheral speed of the applicator roll is greater than that of the transfer roll, which is greater than that of the take-up roll, but the strip speed is preferably lower than that of the applicator roll.