Hello one and all and welcome to our last Newsletter of 2017, we’ll be back in 2018 though, don’t worry (or cheer, depending on your opinion!)
Actually, I had some very nice emails again this week about the Newsletter and I just wanted to say thanks for them, it’s always nice to hear you like my ramblings.

The first question this week was about our new Cut’n’Polish, does it colour the wood at all? Nice and easy, no it doesn’t, it’s a clear wax even with the abrasive in it so it doesn’t change the colour of the surface at all.

Many of our products can be sprayed with suitable equipment. We were asked how much the Melamine Lacquer needs to be thinned and the answer is around 10%, it will vary depending on the equipment set up. The same is true for the Cellulose Sanding Sealer, whereas items such as the Spirit Stain will spray straight from the bottle.

Another emailer asked how to stop the colours in Yew from fading. This one has stumped us a bit (suggestions welcome) as there doesn’t seem to be a definitive reason as to exactly what causes it to happen, exposure to air or UV seem to be the suspects. The only suggestion we could make was to use one of our Acrylic aerosol lacquers as they have UV filters in and will create a tough barrier against anything else. We suspect this will only slow the process rather than prevent it though.

Finally, two questions about White Spirit Stain. Firstly, why isn’t it as effective as the other stains? There are many reasons for this, but the main one is that, like all of our stains, it’s translucent and allows the colour of the wood to show through, and it isn’t strong enough to overpower the base colour – it’s a stain not a paint. It isn’t helped by the fact that the only pigment we can use is titanium dioxide which isn’t completely compatible with the solvent. Basically it’s the best it can be and we’re aware of its shortcomings but can do very little about it.

But whilst it will work as a stain, giving a white ‘wash’ effect, the main reason for the White Spirit Stain’s existence is make the other colours into pastel shades. I’m grateful to Stewart Furini for his tip on the best way to achieve this, which is to add the colour to the white rather than the other way round (which would be the natural way to think of doing it). This will help it mix much easier.
Stewart uses a lot of stain and other products in his work and makes some wonderful YouTube ‘how-to’ videos (including the bits where he goes wrong!) which are well worth a look. There’s a helpful link button below.

All that remains is for me to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, I hope you’ve been good all year and Santa is kind. We close down next week and will be back on 2 January; however much time you have off over Christmas I hope you enjoy it.
Thanks for your support this year!

Best regards

Terry