Hello there!

Last week I flippantly said we need a collective noun for Newsletter readers. I had a few suggestions, an ‘argument of readers’ was one with the sender suggesting it because of all the different views if we all met (hmmm, will we need security at our Weekender?) Thanks David for that one.
Two emails arrived with half an hour of each other suggesting ‘Buffs’ or ‘Buffers’, both have their merits and are also worthy of consideration. Thanks Alan, Alex and Kathleen for those.
And finally (unless you’ve got an idea?) Bernard came up with ‘Woodwormers’ and ‘Chestnuteers’, again worthy of consideration.
What do you think?

Enough frivolity, you’re here for information…
Someone using Ebonising Lacquer has asked about applying it to very small areas, for fine detail work but to still match in with other larger areas sprayed black with the lacquer. Masking off wasn’t an option, so we suggested spraying some of the lacquer into a suitable receptacle (glass would be ideal but a small plastic lid would work just as well) so that there’s sufficient for the job, then applying it with a brush. It’ll need to be done quickly as the lacquer dries fast, but it should stay wet long enough for this to be possible.

In a similar vein…we don’t normally suggest applying anything over our Acrylic Blanks, but what, someone asked, should they do if they’re using just a very small piece of one in a larger item made of wood? (In this case it was as the eye in a sculpture). The problem with applying a coating over the blanks is getting it to stick; the good news here is that on such a small piece this really shouldn’t be a problem so it’ll be fine to do this.

Another Ebonising Lacquer user asked if the product was toy safe. Our answer was that we didn’t know, it hasn’t been tested as we hadn’t thought many people used it on toys. So we sent it away to the lab we use and had it tested. We’ve just heard back that it passed, so although it’ll take a while for the labelling to catch up we can now say that all of the lacquers in our range, regardless of solvent base, finish or colour are safe for use on toys and nursery furniture.

And there you have it for another week. Our Subscribers list is steadily growing, we’re really happy about that. If you’ve got some friends who might enjoy the Newsletter as well please be sure to let them know about it, or even just forward it so they can sign up as well if they want.

Thanks for reading

Terry

PS. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the idiom ‘Sticks out like a sore thumb’. My very grateful thanks to the reader who sent me a copy of Brewster’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Extremely kind of you sir, I’ll have a lot of fun with that!