Posted by Mike Jackson on January 15, 2004
Jon HarlTo follow up on Danny's comments about mineral spirits in his comments about alcohol mixing with shellac...
We taught the Glue Chip class in Boise a few years ago, and for the class we did the asphaltum method. When it was time to remove the asphaltum, we had a bath of mineral spirits and a few scrub brushes ready in the center, and students could clean off the asphaltum when their piece finished chipping. For some reason, we were having problems we never had back at home. There were two variables. We pre-coated all the glass pieces at our shop, so we knew the asphaltum was our old reliable stuff. The mineral spirits at the show were from a discount store and apparently thinned down. When we found a good paint store, we bought a couple of gallons of the premium stuff and the asphaltum came right off. There is probably an additional lesson here, knowing many of us use the cheaper thinners for thinning lettering enamel.
A long, long, long time ago, I went to a car show in Oklahoma City where a guy from Kansas was pinstriping a show car. He allowed me to watch him and ask a lot of questions. He swore by Pratt and Lambert's "DuoSol". It thins the paint and is hot enough to grip into the vehicle paint. I, of course, had to run around half the town to try to find a quart or two of it. I used it for a long time. Darla hates the smell of it so we don't use it much now, but I suspect it is far superior to most thinners. One Shot also sells Low-Temp and High-Temp reducers.
Maybe others have additional comments, observations, or suggestions.
Mike Jackson
Robare M. NovouI used to use turps to thin my One Shot. I liked the smell. However now I use One Shot Low- Temp Reducer most of the time. I like the way it speeds the drying time, I'm very impatient and so are my customers. I believe it helps with the flow and leveling of the paint. Also it doesn't affect the gloss finish. Although if it's really hot I switch to High-Temp to retard the drying time and increase the flow, my pallet will get gummy if I use Low-Temp in hot weather
Mike JacksonI purchased a gallon of $1.98 odorless mineral spirits from home depot. I used it to remove the asphaltum from 50 acid etched glass clock door insterts. I placed half a gallon of the the stuff into a plastic tub, laid in the glass and closed the lid of the tub. I then went back to wash off the acid of the next piece of glass. I returned to retrieve the soaking glass piece from the tub of cheap spirits. It was about a five minute soak time at the most...all the asphaltum
had soaked off as I had hoped for. The pieces had been doubled screened and dryed for several days before acid etching. All pieces were soaked one at a time, and cleaned off nicely.
About screening asphaltum...I had let it thicken up prior to screening by letting it air dry a bit, I left the lid off the can overnight, and used it the next day. It worked better in this thicken mode than it had when I first used it fresh a few days before.
The brand of spirits was Klean-Stip. Even though it says "odorless"...it still has some smell to it.
RMN
John StuddenI guess the lesson to be learned is "not all mineral spirits are manufactured equally". If it won't dissolve asphaltum, try another brand—and if it does, keeping using it! The stuff we had been using prior to going to Boise also worked for us.
Mike Jackson
Rick SacksMike, We have been using Naptha thinner for a while now because of the "weakness" of regular paint thinner, it is a superior product and can be substituted for any regular thinner application. Very good for cleaning screens..........
John StuddenJohn, I was using naptha years back and went to the doctor for my annual check up that was preceeded by having some blood drawn and some regular testing. There were some very high numbers associated with my liver and the doc was rather concerned. After talking about the solvents I was using, he asked me to take several weeks off from using naptha and repeat the test. I did and it came back normal.
Remember when the cans read VM&P?
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