"bkr" wrote in message
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Leon wrote:
"bkr" wrote in message
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Kicking? Not a wood working term.
Kicking is what epoxy does when it hardens.
I see.
The varnish I am using is
acting like that...it's not getting a thin film on the surface, the whole
can is hardening and turns into something like amber. It looks really
cool, but isn't very useful to me now.
Well, IMHO it is all curing if it is hardning. IMHO dump it and get new
product.
What should I do once I've
separated the actual amount I want to use from the main can?
Tyoically you want to seperate Paint from the can it comes in, You want
room inside the container so that you can tap the sides of the brush
against the inside sides of the can after loading the brush. Typically
you want paint to go on fairely thick and typically in 1 coat. Tapping
the brush vs. scraping against the top opening of the can leaves more
paint on the brush.
Varnish is another matter. Typoically you want to put on several Thin
coats. Draging you brush across the inner top opening of the can
prevents the brush from loading too much varnish. Leave the varnish in
its original container.
I'm not sure what you thought I meant, but I've always been told to
separate varnish from it's original container unless you expect to use it
all.
Not a bad practice but I have never done this, at least in the last 27
years. It would save you from having to haul around a larger container if
you buy large quantities.
I don't use paint at all, at least not on wood, yet. The
mechanics of actually doing the application I've got down pretty good.
What I meant was, what should I do with the main varnish can...add
something to it, just close it up and try to seal it tightly, or something
else entirely?
I would not recomend adding anything to the varnish to mix with the varnish
untill you are ready to use it. I would however add the Bloxygen gas on top
of the product inside the can to help prevent curing inside the can.
My second question has to do with thinning. I've read somewhere to thin
with mineral spirits or something similar. What are the benefits of
doing this?
This is good information, thanks a lot. I think I'm using a water based
varnish, but I'm not sure. I'll have to check it out.
Look at the clean up directions. soap and water, thin with water, Clean up
with mineral spirits, thinner, thin with a those items.
I've used the varnish straight and love the finish and I
haven't had any real difficulty in application such as bubbling or
anything. Are there benefits to thinning that I'm not aware of?
If you are not having problems don't try to fix a problem
I'm not trying to fix a problem, I'm trying to find out if there are
benefits I'm unaware of.
Adding a thinner will help the product flow out evenly on the surface and
helps to prevent bubbling. Varnishes difer greatly in viscosities. Some
require adding a thinner for best results. Better brands like General
Finishes are typically ready to go right out of the can.
Also don't discount a decent quality FOAM brush. These brushes do great job
of puttind down varnish. Be sure to buy the better foam brushes that will
permit use with oil based finishes.
In fact, I only had them for a
week or or two before I used them but one of them hardened in a week or so
after I opened it (and closed it immediately after pouring what I needed
into a separate container) and the other took maybe two weeks.
I have had varnishes that were old to start with do that. Read that as they
sat in the store toolong. Perhaps they had been opened and reclosed.
Again, go with the better brands and this should not be a concern expecially
in that short period of time.
At the prices I'm paying for this varnish, I'd rather not have that happen
as they seem completely unusable to me at this point.
I factor in spending at least $15 per quart for varnish. Buy smaller
containers of the product if you are not going to use it within several
months. Remember that $10 extra for the good stuff is cheap compared to the
materials and time that you put into the project.
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