Hello!

This time I’m really back, and I brought some good weather with me too. I had a great holiday, very relaxing, and thank you to all that wished me well.
I’ve spent most of this week trying to catch up with emails, still not got to the end of them yet but I will. All of the really important ones have been answered though.
I hope you’ve had a good couple of weeks while I’ve been away. Now, back to business..!

A question I was asked recently concerned the Melamine Lacquer. The emailer asked if they could build up two coats of the ‘standard’ lacquer, cutting back between coats, then apply a final coat using the aerosol version, to get the best possible finish. It’s a good plan, a spray application will always give a better finish and there’s absolutely no problem with doing this, both versions are the same product so there will be no compatibility problems at all.

We were asked last week about how well Spirit Stain will fare if used outdoors. I imagine there was a worry about how it would deal with UV rays. The good news is that the Spirit Stain is extremely fade resistant, and whilst pretty much everything will fade in time in bright sunlight (and we do actually seem to be getting some of that) the stains will last very well and hold their colour for a very long time.
There was a second part to this question too, whether the stain would need a coating over the  top of it. The answer is yes, for two reasons. Firstly, the stain won’t offer any extra protection to the timber, so if it’s exposed it will need something to slow down the weathering process. Also, the stain can be loosened by water, so a heavy downpour is likely to remove some of the stain. Our Finishing Oil is a great choice for this as it’s weather resistant and has UV filters in it too, so it’ll keep the colour looking bright even longer.

Staying outdoors (and it’s lovely today, why not!?); another caller asked what finish to use on small garden ornaments he’d been making – did anyone else think immediately of mushrooms?
Acrylic Gloss Lacquer is your best choice for this; easy to apply, gives a bright finish and is weather resistant. It too has UV filters in it so it’ll keep the timber looking good for a long time and the filters also protect the lacquer. Finishing Oil would be another choice, but in this case the caller wanted a bright, clear finish.
Acrylic Gloss Lacquer is also great for name plaques for doors etc!

So it’s back to the emails for me, and sorting out the final details for the Woodturning Weekender. I hope you don’t mind that I mention it regularly, we get new subscribers every week and I would really hate for anyone to miss it simply because they haven’t heard about it. And of course, I don’t want you to miss it either!

I’ll see you next week

All the best

Terry