Replies

1. 
   Piffin | Aug 09, 2008 12:18pm | #1

   I just use turps, but I have heard of adding a small percentage of linseed oil to the mix

    

    

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1. 
   berferdt | Aug 09, 2008 05:07pm | #3

   The real stuff is getting hard to find. Have you tried the imitation?

   My Dad was an artist - did oils on canvas - and used a T & BO mix for a glaze. That also was his favorite formula for tackrags. I've tried it with raw linseed as well, (stays tack forever) but both will affect water based finishes.

   For me there is nostalgia in the aroma. I miss working with him and that can bring back good memories. I'll try turp alone on a sample. Maybe several, now that I am thinking about it.

1. 
   Piffin | Aug 09, 2008 05:44pm | #6

   I don't have trouble getting real turpentine.I vac first and then onm a floor can still trun a rag brown using iot to swab up dust with the turps. Love the smell myself.It is also a good cleaner for varnished kitchen cabinets that get dingy looking from oils in the air 

    

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2. 
   Danno | Aug 09, 2008 05:01pm | #2

   I vacuum with a brush attachment. Sometimes go over it (like on a floor we're refinishing) with store-bought tack cloth--theirs seem to be pretty sticky--must have some varnish and will harden if not kept in plastic bag. (I suppose they are also a fire danger from spontaneous combustion--never thought about it till just now!)

   I'm sure if you ask at Knots, theyll have recipes for home-made tack cloths.

1. 
   berferdt | Aug 09, 2008 05:20pm | #4

   You're right, the vac is first and the commercial cloths work well - while they last - and I was thinking about Knots, but I thought the guys here may have a better way to do things on a big scale. Imagine a big room almost the size of a High School gym paneled with a fortune in verneer and moulding all needing to be tacked down. I have concerns about the quality of the atmosphere in there, as well.

3. 
   YesMaam27577 | Aug 09, 2008 05:35pm | #5

   Go to a music store and ask for a hunk of "bow rosin". Its a sticky lump of hardened goo that violin players rub on the horsehair to get the bow to make music when drawn across the strings.

   Put that in a quart or so of turpentine -- the real stuff -- and let it dissolve for a few days.

   Then soak some rags in that mix, and wring them out. Presto -- tackrags.

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1. 
   berferdt | Aug 09, 2008 05:50pm | #7

   I've heard of doing it with alcohol and rosin, as well, but don't have much idea of proportions.

1. 
   Sphere | Aug 09, 2008 09:04pm | #8

   I've always diluted some of the actual finish. shellac, gets a thinner version then what the seal coat will be, Varnish, the same..Waterbased, the same.

   Never an issue with compatibilty that way.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

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1. 
   berferdt | Aug 10, 2008 06:05am | #11

   Thanks for the reply. I've done that too. It's the only thing I'll try for laquer on metal - if I can't get someone more qualified than me to shoot it.

   In the job I'm looking at, I'm a little hesitant to water a $600 piece of verneer, or a couple hundred of them on this job.

4. 
   brucet9 | Aug 09, 2008 09:56pm | #9

   You might start with pieces of polyester doubleknit - definitely the tackiest textile ever made.

   BruceT
1. 
   Danno | Aug 10, 2008 12:13am | #10

   Actually, that reminds me of the time I decided to use a pair of worn out socks to apply shellac--turns out the dye in the socks was soluble in alcohol. You've heard of amber shellac and so on? Well, I had navy blue shellac. bet you've never seen that!

1. 
   berferdt | Aug 10, 2008 06:14am | #13

   That just created a thought about getting creative with non-colorfast cloth . . . .

2. 
   berferdt | Aug 10, 2008 06:07am | #12

   Yep, and twice as durable as it is ugly.