WEEK COMMENCING 6 APRIL 2025

Hi

Thank you to everyone who dropped into Yandles last week and said hello to Nathanael. I hope you enjoyed the event as much as he did.

I’m back on the road again. Next Tuesday sees me up with our friends at Lincolnshire Association of Woodturners, who helped us out so much at last year’s Woodturning Weekender with the loan of several lathes for our demonstrators to use. I’m looking forward to seeing lots of old friends and maybe even make some new ones.

First off the blocks this week is a question about applying Hard Wax Oil over Spirit Stain. Specifically: can it be ragged on?

These two products don’t share a common solvent, so this should be OK. However, the ragging action could be a little aggressive. If too much pressure is used, or the cloth is too wet, it’s possible the stain could still run.

The best course of action would be to apply a light brush coat of oil first. After that, it should be fine to rag on further coats—although a light touch is still the best approach.

Another reader contacted us about a repair on his kitchen worktop. It had been done professionally using a Dremel, a hard filler, and some “clever acrylic hand paintwork to match the pattern and colour to look like the original.”

Once finished, a protective spray had been applied. The question was whether a couple of coats of Melamine Gloss Lacquer spray would be a good idea to enhance protection and wear resistance.

I thought not, since we don’t know what type of spray was originally used. One of our Acrylic Sprays would be a better choice, as it’s far less likely to react with the existing coating.

My only small concern was that the worktop surface might not allow the spray to adhere fully—but a light coat shouldn’t be a problem.

Finally for this week, an email from someone repairing a Fender guitar neck: what can he mix our Spirit Stains with to create a tinted shader coat of finish?

The Spirit Stains are very adaptable and ideal for this. They mix with many of our products, including Cellulose Sanding Sealer, Melamine Lacquer, Hard Wax Oil, and—to a lesser extent—Acrylic Sanding Sealer and Acrylic Lacquer.

A sprayable finish was preferred, so Melamine Lacquer would probably be the best choice in this case. I hope the guitar turns out great!

And that’s about everything from me for this week. It’s a busy week ahead for me; as well as the demo on Tuesday, I’ll be heading up to Cambridge for the second time in just a few weeks. Last time is was to see Deacon Blue at the Corn Exchange, next week it’s Big Country, but I’m especially looking forward to seeing their support act The Vapors. Remember ‘Turning Japanese’? I do, and I’m looking forward to seeing them play it!

I hope you have a fun week too!

Terry