Hello again

Don’t the weeks just seem to fly by? Next week will do the same for me as it’s going to be very busy; on Monday evening and Tuesday morning I’ll be at DJ Evans in Bury St Edmunds (just up the road for a change!) chatting to anyone who’ll listen about our products during their Woodturning Event. Then on Friday and Saturday I’ll be at Westpoint in Exeter (not just up the road!) at the Woodworking West Show.  Both events are free entry if you’re in the area.

So what were we asked this week? Well, a keen user of our Acrylic Lacquer asked if it was ok to mix an old bottle with a new bottle when spraying them – he wasn’t sure he’d have enough in the cup of his gun to complete the job. It’s ok to do this with most of our products, but we advised being just a little wary and to make sure that the consistency of the lacquer was the same. Acrylic Lacquer thickens with age (after about 12-18 months) and it would be important to make sure they’d mix properly.

We’ve been asked if our Iridescent Paints are toy safe – do they comply with the EN71 Part 3 regulations.  Being water-based we expect that they will be (the only issue could be the specialised pigments used) so we’ll be having them tested in the New Year (which really isn’t that far off now) and we’ll let you know when we know.

This one came up this week and I can’t remember if we’ve covered it already, but even if we have it’s worth doing again. Can our lacquers be wet sanded? The normal way here would be to use a suitable abrasive, usually very fine (2000 grit plus) and to lubricate either the surface being sanded or the abrasive itself. Water is often used, sometimes with the addition of a little soap. This is perfectly okay to do as long as the lacquer is left long enough to dry. Twenty-four hours is usually long enough in most cases. An extremely high gloss finish can be achieved in this way and applying multiple coats will give an amazing wet-look. Be sure that the surface is completely clean and dry before applying further coats though.

I’ll leave you with those for this week. We’re getting close to having some new YouTube clips ready, I’ll let you know when to go looking for them or if you haven’t seen them already just follow the link in the bit at the bottom of the page. There’s a couple of hours of your life you’ll never get back!!

If I don’t see you before, I’ll see you next week.

Terry