finishes

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Clint Searl, at the base of Haycock Mtn

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Re: finishes

Paul Dwight

>The general idea is to minimize the amount of air in the container with the finish. One alternative is to pour your unused finish into a smaller container. Another alternative is to put clean marbles into the original can with the unused finish to add volume and displace the air out of the can. Finally, there is a commercial product available called Bloxygen (I think) that's made just for this purpose. I believe it's a heavier-than-air inert gas that you spray into the can. The gas displaces the air and settles on top of the finish. The gas keeps oxygen from getting to the finish and tends to keep the finish from polymerizing.

Personally, this stopped being a significant problem for me when I stopped experimenting with different top coats. I now use either waterborne acrylic varnish (Fuhr 355) and/or shellac for essentially everything I do. I use enough of these two products that I haven't had problems with shelf life.

Hope this helps. -- Paul

Re: finishes

Tom850i

>Where do you buy Fuhr 355? Home Depot? Woodcraft? or a paint store?

Re: finishes

Paul Dwight

>Fuhr has a dealer locator on its website. In the metro Phoenix area, there was one dealer -- and that paint store stopped carrying Fuhr for some reason. I now get mine from www.homesteadfinishing.com (Jeff Jewitt's website). -- Paul