WEEK COMMENCING 12 MAY 2019

Hello Chestnuteers!

Makers Central 2019 is but a memory now; I know that many of you came along and it was great to see you. We might not have been able to talk much as it was just so busy, but I hope I managed to spend a bit of time with all of you who came along.
Many others attended Woodworks in Daventry, sadly we couldn’t be in two places at once but if you opted for there I hope had an equally good time.

What can I tell you about this week..?
There’s a plethora of coloured waxes available to woodworkers; they’re not a new idea, such things have been around since before I started in the industry (not quite when dinosaurs ruled the earth, thank you!) and we’ve always produced our WoodWax 22 in a limited range of wood shades (great for taking the whiteness out of new wood) as well as the ever-popular Clear.
What you might not know, and this came up at the weekend, is that you can tint the WoodWax 22 and especially the Liming Wax using our Spirit Stains to get a wide range of colours from just one tin. The only limit is your imagination!
Regulars here will know that I often talk about compatibility of our finishes and coatings. It’s a very important topic and I make no apologies for returning to it. (And don’t forget that our wonderful Compatibility Chart can be downloaded for free from our website). We were asked about using shellac based products over the Spirit Stains this week. This can be done, but some care needs to be exercised as they share a common solvent (in this case meths) and over-brushing it could cause the stain to lift. The same is true with cellulose based products, which is where the aerosol versions are so much easier to use.

Picking up on something I was saying last week, the life expectancy of the Buffing Wheel Kit came up this weekend. All of the components of the kit are available to buy individually, so rather like Trigger’s Broom

the kit itself will last forever…but of course the compounds and the wheels will wear down. How long they will take depends on how often you use them of course. The compounds will be the first to run out, but remember you don’t need to use a lot of them each time (especially the white) so this will help them last longer.
The outer edge of the wheel will also wear down in time, but this will take a lot longer. We upgraded the mounting system on the wheels a while ago and I changed my demo wheels accordingly. I compared the new ones to the ones which were several years old and the difference in the diameter was too small to really notice. As the fabric does wear away the wheel is still usable, it will probably just require a little more speed.
The mandrels should last forever, as we often say the only reason to replace them is if you lose one! Or, in the case of a caller today, if you want to have a spare for a second lathe!

This time next week I’ll be in the Isle of Wight at Mulberry Tree Woodturnery and the following weekend I’ll be at the ToolPost Open House. Apart from a few club demos that’ll be it for shows until a little event taking place at the beginning of August, I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before…of course I did, it’s our Woodturning Weekender – our late 25th birthday party disguised as a woodturning event! Tickets are still available and are selling well, we really hope that if you haven’t already taken the plunge you’ll dive in soon and join us. It’s going to be a lot of fun with loads of inspiration and information to be had.

I really hope I’ll see you at one or maybe even all of the above.

Have a great week!

Terry