We’ve had a few questions recently involving Sharpies, the popular permanent felt tip pen markers. These have become popular for marking timber and should do a pretty good job of this. One of the questions we had was asking why applying the Acrylic Sanding Sealer aerosol on top was making the ink run. We were surprised by this as well, and there are only a couple of instances that we can think of that could cause this.
Although the Acrylic Sanding Sealer is predominantly water-based there are some trace solvents in there, but not normally enough to cause this to happen. However, if the Sharpie wasn’t left long enough to dry (and the drying time on some timbers could be longer than normal) and/or too much sealer was applied the ink could be reactivated and made to run. So a little more patience and a little less sealer are probably the answers here.

Another question involved our Safety Cloth. We know a lot of people use this when turning and they love it. Many have even said that just using it has improved their finishing. The question was whether we can supply it in bulk packs of 50 or more rather than the standard packs of 3 or 10. This wouldn’t be a standard item but us being us, of course we can (and have). So if you have a query like this just ask.
I think this also shows the popularity and value of Safety Cloth. The safety aspect of it is important (it tears easily if caught in anything spinning rather than trying to take your hand with it as a cotton-type cloth would). But it also has the perfect texture and absorbency level to transfer your polish or sealer etc onto your timber, and it is also ideal for buffing waxes etc as well. If you haven’t tried it, don’t take our word for it, we have lots of happy users who love it already.

If you’ve seen one of my demos you’ll know that I go into a lot of detail about our finishes, hopefully without going overboard and blinding everyone with science. I was asked to remind someone about the following point. When lacquers are made, they all have a gloss finish. A matting agent is then added to change the gloss level; the more that goes in, the less shiny it becomes. These products need to be shaken to disperse the matting agent evenly, to avoid a patchy finish.
Melamine Lacquer is a gloss finish, there is no matting agent in the can. This means there is nothing in the can that needs to be mixed in, the can doesn’t need shaking before use. (It’s not a huge problem if you do, but agitating the can could introduce air bubbles into the liquid which might not flow out before the lacquer dries).

And that’s everything for this week. Don’t switch off just yet though, newcomers might like to know that all of the Newsletters are archived on our website and can be accessed by clicking on the button below. And if you scroll down even further there are links to our YouTube channel which if you haven’t visited yet is well worth looking at.

Don’t forget to tell your friends about the Newsletter, the more knowledge out there the better, as far as I’m concerned.
I’ll be back again in seven days

Terry