Hello!

Phew what a week!! It’s been a bit manic with a new product launch and a new show this weekend – this will hit your inbox as I’m getting ready to set off to the NEC Birmingham for Makers Central, a brand new show so I really don’t know what to expect. Hopefully lots of friendly faces, as always come and say hello if you’re there.

This week’s first question is why did a Gold Gilt Cream turn coppery red when an Acrylic Sanding Sealer was applied over the top of it? In fact there was a lot more going on that just that, and frankly we don’t know for sure, there were too many incompatible products used before the Gilt Cream, but the lesson to really take away from this is that if you need to put a coating over a Gilt Cream it can only be a wax or an oil. Anything else is asking for trouble.

We get asked a lot about the availability of our products overseas. We’d love to be able to supply our range all over the world but sadly it isn’t as easy as it seems…Once you get outside Europe the regulations regarding what goes on the labels changes. For example in North America the volume/weight of the product must go on the front of the label, along with certain hazard precautions. One the back the hazard warnings are totally different as well, so to introduce our products into another country we need to first create a Safety Data Sheet that complies with that country’s regulations, then have new, compliant labels designed and printed, and only then can we start making and sending product out.
Sending it isn’t easy either due to hazard restrictions, we’re well versed in the requirements for doing so but they get more complex every year and seem change from shipping line to shipping line, destination to destination.
We’re slowly introducing our products into new markets around the world, we hope this is of interest to our UK readers and if you’re reading from elsewhere in the world please bear with us, we’re working on it!

Finally, heading back to Gilt Cream, we were asked if it was essential to use a sealer or lacquer before applying Gilt Cream. The answer is no, but if you do it’ll seal the pores of the wood, keeping the Gilt Cream out of them and in the open grain areas only, giving a more dramatic effect. The same goes for using Liming Wax as well.

So that’s this week’s questions, now for a really boring bit…if you’re not already sick of hearing about GDPR you soon will be. There’s some useful information on the ‘Which’ website about it if you need it.
What it means to us is that we’ll be contacting you again soon, separately, to ask for your permission to continue sending you our newsletters. If you don’t respond we won’t be able to send them any more. We’ll be doing this very soon.

Now that’s out of the way with, if I don’t see you at Makers Central maybe I’ll see you at Woodworks@Daventry next weekend? Either way, enjoy the long weekend and if you get into the workshop and make something interesting why not share it on our Facebook page?

See you next week

Terry