Hello again!

A huge thank you to all the Chestnuteers (that’s official now by the way) who came and said hello at the Yandles show last weekend, it was amazingly busy but I hope we got to spend some time with you all. A huge thank you to Bee Matthews for her fantastic work demonstrating our stains and Iridescent Paints, if you didn’t see them head over to our Facebook page to find out what you missed. Thanks also to Andy and Ben Matthews for their help and support in demonstrating, and thanks Ben for the ice cream too. Great to see Chas Jones there as well jumping onto the lathe and demonstrating some buffing for us, thanks to him as well.
And if you signed up at the show, thanks and welcome to you too!

Now for some questions..
‘How can you speed up the drying time of Cellulose Sanding Sealer’ we were asked. You mean it’s not quick enough already?? On this occasion though it was being thinned to soak into punky wood, to act as a hardener. The process can’t be shortened, as the sealer has soaked into the wood and is inaccessible, so applying warmth or anything else will have no effect. Just allow 15 minutes or so for it do dry naturally before moving on.

I can’t remember if we’ve covered this before, but it came up at the weekend, do our Iridescent Paints need to go on over a black background (as some others do)? The answer is no, they can go over a clear sealer or a white background (I foresee an ‘anti-ebonising lacquer sometime in the future, needs a better name though). They can even be put on bare wood (see Bee’s work!) and as they follow the contours of the grain this will allow the grain pattern to show as well. Very adaptable.

Lastly this week, someone wrote to us that the difference between Burnishing Cream and Cut’n’Polish wasn’t very clear to them, could we advise?
They are very similar and to an extent do the same job. The main difference comes in what can safely be put over them. Neither of them (nor any wax product, regardless of what claims are made elsewhere) should be overcoated with a lacquer. Let’s get that out there straight away.
But both can be used on the final coat of lacquer, to bring up a brighter shine. Both can be left as the final product used; Burnishing Cream will enhance the shine of the lacquer without adding a coating, but can be followed by Friction Polish or a wax if so desired. Cut’n’Polish leaves a wax coat on the surface and again can be left as the final finish or overcoated with another wax.
When used on a sealer the same rules apply, but the final product won’t have the same amount of protection as when a lacquer is used. That’s not easy to put concisely but I hope that helps.

And that’s a wrap for this week. I should have been at an in-house show on Saturday but the date was changed, so  I’m sneaking a late holiday in instead! But don’t worry (as if you would anyway), I’ll still be here next week with another batch of questions and answers for you.

All the best

Terry