WEEK COMMENCING 23 AUGUST 2020

Hi

It’s like time travel. As I write this, our first Conkers LIVE event is in the future. When you get this, it will have already happened. Were you there? If so, I hope you enjoyed it. I hope it went according to plan! And what about the rest of your week, how has that been? It’s been a busy one for me once again, but better than being bored I suppose. And, of course, there have been more questions..

Last week I was talking about spalted timber and food safety. This created more questions and comments from Chestnuteers, whether the fungus was still live at this stage and others. Thank you for all of them. There is a lot of information about spalted timber and it all makes interesting reading, the most annoying part is that I can’t verify any of it. Opinion seems to be that the spalting can only occur when the timber is wet, and that if it is dried then the fungus is dormant in the wood. That means that, whilst not dead, it is no longer reproducing or producing spores. Any current spores in the wood will be sealed in by the finish.
I report this for interest and make no claim to fully understand this nor that the information above is correct. It makes sense, but is unverified.
(Thanks for Pete R for pointing me at this source of info).
.
Another query came in from someone making the top of a bird bath to go on an existing pedastal – the ‘bath part’ itself. What could be used to seal the wood that also wouldn’t harm the birds visiting it? I’ve talked about outdoor pieces a lot recently, the normal problem being with them getting wet in the rain. This would have the reverse problem, it should be wet all the time, either being deliberately filled with water or when the rain comes down. This is a lot to ask a finish to stand up to, short of using a resin which could look a bit plasticky. I was at a bit of a loss, until I realised that the easiest solution was to bypass a finish altogether. A suitably sized glass bowl, sitting on a wooden base (possibly finished with Finishing Oil or Hard Wax Oil) would solve the problem. It would also have the advantage of being easy to remove so that it could be washed easily as well. Sometimes, just sometimes, the finish isn’t the answer!
.
Finally for this week, we had a question about reviving some cane furniture. One of our customers has done some very detailed experimenting in the past with our Spirit Stains and these work well on cane, but no colour change was needed here, just a bit of a spruce up. Our emailer was already thinking about a good clean down and apply a wax, which is what we’d suggest, but he was looking for a simpler way to buff the wax – ideally a mechanical buffing tool. We suggested the Dome Brush for Drills. Made in the UK, the bristles on these brushes are specially chosen for buffing waxes. They are hard enough to remove any surplus wax (very useful for intricate cane work) yet soft enough to buff the wax to a bright, resilient finish. They will work with any of our waxes and are designed to be used in a drill, although they are also compatible with our Buffing System and can be mounted on a lathe, where they are also used to buff  the inside of bowls. They’re not cheap, but they last a very long time and are very multi-purpose.
.
So that’s all three questions for this week. The eagle-eyed among you might have noticed that we’ve changed our system for sending the Newsletter. There should be very little visible difference, but it does mean that we’re able to attach a file rather than provide a download link, so the pdf version of the Newsletter is now attached below.
.
I hope you have a good week and I’ll see you again next Friday.
.
All the best
.
Terry