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Finishing Tip
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A general rule of thumb: if it smells toxic, it is!
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Friends, Finds & Collaborations
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The International Builder's Show is in Las Vegas, January 20-23. Livinghomes, Color Design Art and Livingreen are collaborating
to build, disassemble, transport and reassemble a 2,000 square foot
modular home, complete with outdoor landscaping. We are helping to
furnish the interior with, you guessed it, wine oak furniture.
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Dear Leigh,
Welcome!
This monthly e-newsletter will answer the questions that people always
seem ask when we tell them our business, woodworking.
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Los Angeles's "Tough" Winter Months
Why are so many wood finishes bad for the environment?
Upon moving into our new shop last winter, we pulled down two old open
flame gas fired heaters that were hanging in the shop and gave them
away through craigslist. These were a definite fire hazard in a wood
shop were the fine sawdust in the air can be as combustible as
gasoline. And hey, who needs a heater? It's Los Angeles!
We are always on the look out for the best quality, lowest VOC
finishes available. For lacquer finishes, we try and avoid solvent
based coatings in favor of water based. So far, the lowest VOC and best
all around performer is Aquadura from SDA Craft,
manufactured locally in Long Beach. Knowing that a super low VOC water
based finish performs so well, why would anyone want to spray solvent
lacquers? If you have to leave the room when you open the can because
the fumes make you dizzy, you can bet it's not good for you, your
family, and the big picture in general.
And then the rains came.
The beginning of 2009 was rainy and cold (relatively speaking) for us
here in LA. The concrete floors in our shop soaked up that moisture and
held onto the nighttime lows, so that we were all wearing long
underwear and stocking caps all day. Kacey tried to work with
fingerless wool gloves. It was a good 10 degrees colder in the shop
than outside, and it wasn't warming up, even after the rains let up. We
were working on a small finishing job and our prized water based
lacquer would not dry. Two hours after spraying it was gummy and
collecting dust like flypaper. This was supposed to be an easy, quick
job for a friend, and instead the hours were piling up as again and
again, the final coat would not dry clean and clear.
The reason
was simple. Too cold, too wet. When the humidity gets above a certain
point, and the temperature stays below a certain point, water based
finishes get stage fright.
Clearly, we needed a heater. In a
panic to finish this job I tried a few stop gap measures: using an
electric heating pad from home to warm up the cans of finish; going to
home depot and buying several oil-filled electric radiators to safely
heat up the spray booth; and blasting the space with some of those
super hot halogen work lights, also from the depot. None of this
worked, and everything I bought from Home Depot was of such amazingly
low quality, that we packaged it all up and returned it. In the end,
the weather warmed up enough that the finish started curing on it's
own. I researched heaters to find what would be safe and effective for
our needs, and reached back into the karmic pool of craigslist and
found a used one. Now the finishing department is a cozy 70 degrees,
and drying nicely.
What's to learn from this other than the
technical knowledge of temperature and humidity? If we were using the
solvent based finishes, we likely wouldn't have had this problem, or at
least not been stopped in our tracks. The solvents are a chemical
"work-around" to overcome natural conditions, so that more finish can
be applied faster, easier, more more more! But at what cost or
benefit?
Quote of the month: "The best thing for being sad,' replied Merlin,
beginning to puff and blow, 'is to learn something. That's the only
thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your
anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your
veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you
devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers
of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then - to learn. Learn
why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the
mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never
fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only
thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn." -T.H.
White, "The Once and Future King"
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Awards and Press
 ARTFX
This is the UK's essential guide to the contract design market. They included our sliding barn door of wine oak in their tech section. A pdf of the December article can be read on our website.
Woodshop News
Last month, several of you asked for a more direct link to this article. Here it is.
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On the Workbench
New Projects and Photos
 We recently completed a media wall made completely from reclaimed Douglas Fir from Downtown Los Angeles warehouses. This gaming table
was a first for us too. With several large projects in the works,
including an eco-friendly spa, a restaurant reception desk made of wine oak, and some gorgeous residential projects, we can't wait to show you more photos next month.
And for More New Projects |
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Our
services include the highest quality modern and traditional cabinetry,
custom furniture, green materials, finishing & refinishing. We
work with general contractors, architects, interior designers and
individual home owners.
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Please forward this email to people you think would be interested. We look forward to hearing your questions and suggestions.
Thanks, Cliff and Leigh Spencer
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