Hi

Wow, thank you to everyone who responded to my question about a once-in-a-while behind the scenes style Newsletter last week. And especially for the amazingly kind comments about the Newsletter. The answers were anonymous, mostly, so I can only reply here. A huge “Thank You”.

One comment asked why we can’t have both versions; I can’t answer that now, but if you want to ask again on a Thursday evening at 9.00 when I’m sitting at my desk, trying to finish a Newsletter, I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with something!

In case it wasn’t clear last week, never fear, the Newsletter will continue as usual, but as over 95% of those who responded were in favour, there will be the occasional non-question based version. But not this week!

A caller contacted us this week about using our Spirit Stain with some stencils they’d just purchased. Would the stain attack the stencil? I wouldn’t expect it to, but as the question had been asked, it made me wonder if perhaps it was a possibility. I’m struggling to think of something that could be used to make a stencil that would be damaged by the stain, but if in doubt, try some stain on a ‘blank’ part of the stencil. We then found that the stencils could be cleaned with meths, which is pretty much the base of the stains, so it’s safe to assume they won’t damage it.

Sometimes events overtake us, and before we know it, it’s been several months since we got out into the workshop. We’re often asked if products will be OK to use after being sitting on a shelf for a year or so. An email asking that very question came in this week. The answer is usually that they’ll be fine. As long as the water-based products have been protected from frost, and the lids have been put on properly, they should last a good couple of years. The best thing to do is to test them, which is easy; apply some (in your normal manner) to a piece of scrap wood. If the finish dries as expected, it’s fine. If it doesn’t dry, or takes much longer than expected, then it’s probably had it, and needs replacing.

There’s an accidental theme to the answers above; “if in doubt, test it”. Which is sound advice, really, and almost exactly what I had to say to some other questions that came in this week. I’m always happy to answer questions about our products, but I really can’t answer about other brands – whether how to use them, or their compatibility with ours. Some are just so obscure that I haven’t even heard of them, but even with well known brands it’s impossible to say. Even if we’d tried them, they can change over time.
We can usually make an educated guess about if something will work, but we’d always suggest a trial first to be sure.

Did you see our friend Stewart Furini’s latest Newsletter? He said some lovely things about our recent Weekender (thanks, Stewart). Have a look for yourself, there’s even a picture of him smiling like a Cheshire Cat. Why not sign up for more from him at the same time?
If you want to see more, you can still get access to the recording of the Livestream from the Weekender. And if you’d like to see a preview of what you can expect, just click >>>HERE<<<.

I’ll be back again next week, see you then!

Terry