Hi

How has your week been? We continue to be busy, but there’s a definite change of mood as restrictions are slowly lifted. People are looking forward to clubs being able to open again and exhibitions taking place. I’m already being booked for demos later this year and also into 2022. In fact, in a different world, I’d be in Newark today meeting lots of you at the show – sadly postponed again this year. Fingers crossed for next year.
I can’t wait to get out and see some of you again.

Let’s get some questions answered… One of the questions that came up recently was about how many cans of lacquer would be needed to re-finish a table. The important part here was that the intention was to use an aerosol finish. There’s nothing wrong with this, but, as you might expect, the coverage from an aerosol is less than when using a brushing version. This is because the volume shown on aerosols (normally 400ml in our case) also includes the solvent/propellant which has to be in the can to make it work. This means that the normal coverage rates don’t apply. We would expect that each aerosol can will easily give a coverage rate of about 2 square metres. (For comparison, we’d expect a brushing version to give 6-8 square metres per litre).

Another enquiry was about an outdoor Jenga game. The requirement was that the finish should be suitable for exterior use and also allow the blocks to slide out easily. I suggested the Hard Wax Oil which is very water resistant. Provided the blocks aren’t left out in a torrential three day downpour, they will be able to stand up to this and most other abuse it might suffer. The oil can also be used to lubricate the abrasive used, just ensuring the smoothest surface which will help them slide easier. A coat of Microcrystalline Wax could also be applied to help the blocks slide. Maybe having a block of the Microcystalline Wax Stick block handy to wipe over the surfaces every so often would be useful – although a rub over with a candle would probably work just as well.

Back in the days when I could get out and give demos, I was often asked about the need to invert and spray our aerosols to clear the nozzle. It can’t hurt to do this, but I don’t normally bother. I never say never, but it is extremely rare for the nozzles to clog up. I had an email from someone last week reporting that this had happened. Our normal advice is to remove the nozzle and soak it overnight in Cellulose Thinners, this should clear it nicely, and that was the outcome here. My correspondent also said that he’d save some of the nozzles from empty cans ‘just in case’, which seemed a great idea. (We do keep a stock of spare nozzles here, just in case!)

And, once again, we reach the end of the Newsletter for another week. Just one last thing to mention, it’s our Fun Quiz tomorrow night (13 March), live on YouTube. We always have a great time running them, there’s some great chat and some interesting questions, so go on. It’s completely free to join in, just go to this link and we’ll see you there!
(Oh, there is one other thing to remind you about, next Friday is the next episode of Conkers Live, featuring a demo by Philip Greenwood. I’ll tell you more next week, but you might want to set yourself a reminder).

I hope I’ll see you on Saturday, but if you can’t make it you know where I’ll be this time next week!

Cheers

Terry