Hello again

I’m back from Ireland now, had a great time and met lots of lovely people (and had an obligatory Guiness) and now we’re deep into our preparation for the North of England Show, otherwise known as the Harrogate Show, although by the time this is delivered to you we’ll be there and all set up. Or at least I hope so!!

And now the questions:

First up, we were asked if you can apply Melamine Lacquer over acrylic paints. We’d advise against this, the solvents in the lacquer would most  likely attack the paint and pickle it. The Acrylic Lacquer would be a safer bet, but always try a test piece first.

I was asked about the difference between the three grades of Superglue. The Thin one is ideal for sealing small cracks in timber and wicks into them to do the job. It dries very quickly.
The Medium one is slightly slower drying (about 20 seconds) and is a good ‘all-rounder’ for most uses, including joining wood, sticking together pen barrels and your fingers. Always keep some DeBonder handy! I especially like the Medium one because it stays where you put it.
The Thick version is popular for gap filling and is often mixed with sawdust to colour it. This one can take a couple of minutes to dry.

Someone else asked about what speed to run our Buffing Wheels at. The answer is at whatever speed you feel comfortable at, anything between 600 and 1500rpm is fine. I favour 1200rpm personally.  At slower speeds the wheels will distort to follow awkward shapes so this could be an advantage. We’ve been told that it’s also possible to buff finishes such as WoodWax 22 at slower speeds whereas higher speeds could cause it to smear.

Our new Microcrystalline Wax Stick has attracted a lot of attention, and we’ve been asked about the best way to use it. It can be used on the ‘C’ wheel of our Buffing System or applied onto a sealed piece of wood on the lathe, using the friction caused by contact to melt the wax on. The most important thing to remember is to use it sparingly, like it’s paste version less really is more and you don’t need to apply very much of it.

In a similar vein, we’ve been asked a couple of times if it’s ok to use the Microcrystalline Wax (either version) and the Carnauaba Wax Stick on the same wheel, and the answer is yes, they don’t mind sharing but try to make sure there’s not too much of the Microcrystalline Wax on the wheel; a quick clean up with some abrasive can sometimes help get a better result.

I’m hoping to come back from Harrogate with a whole new batch of questions, if you’re coming along please come and say hello and let me know what you think of our newsletter…and you can also give your opinion of our first YouTube film! Here’s another handy little button that’ll take you straight to it..