Latest Entry: Just got home from work to find my paint job still just as
wet as when I applied it, which was well over eight hours ago. Obviously I
used too much oil in my 'test sample'. Fortunately this was only a test
paint job, and not the real thing. I'll have to attempt this again, only
with much less oil. The upshot of course is that I have not yet in fact
solved my "Varathane bubbles" problem afterall; as I had so
enthusiastically -but prematurely- concluded in my previous post. But I am
still quite certain that you have put me on the right track towards getting
there in pursuing this approach.

Ken

"Stephen Hull" wrote in message
...
In message eDXif.653631$tl2.134942@pd7tw3no
"Ken Moiarty" wrote:

Woke up and couldn't fall back to sleep this morning so I decided to
get up early and try painting again. I was impatient to try the
"linseed oil" idea. But I don't have any linseed oil in the house
and nothing's open here at 3 AM. So on a whim I used some food-grade
MTC (medium-chain-triglyceride) oil I happened to have lying around
(from my days if experimenting with fad body-building food
supplements). MTC oil is a very light oil. But one advantage the MTC
oil happens to offer as paint additive is that it is completely
colourless. OTOH linseed oil being yellow, whilst my paint being
white... well you can see where I'm going. Anyway, I just finished
putting up a coat of Varathane, after thinning it with this MTC oil.
And man, what a difference! Although a little on the runny side for
my liking, the problem with the bubbles has now been completely
resolved! By delaying the Varathane setup, and thereby increasing my
time to work with it, I am now able to painstakingly tease out all
the bubbles with my brush before leaving the project to dry. (Also,
as a bonus, brush marks now less prominent. I'll see later if they
don't have enough time to disappear completely on their own before
the paint does finally begin to set.)

Thanks again,
Ken

In the coach painting industry it has usually been the norm to speed up
the drying process particularly on finishing coats as this type of paint
can stay workable for hours, mainly because it contains more oil than
pigment and less drying agents are added.

Modern paints unfortunately tend to dry from the opposite end of the
scale, too quick, probably for faster reapplication and quicker turn
around.

I've heard paraffin can be used to slow down the drying process but
wouldn't recommend it, it's not pure enough to use in paint.
However your MTC oil method seems quite a plausible solution.

The colour of Linseed oil is on the yellow side but it would hardly make
any difference when added to white especially in such small quantities.

Anyway I'm glad you've managed to get it sorted.

Steve.


--
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Coach painting tips and techniques + Land Rover colour codes
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