I've seen archive posts refering to a minimum temperature of 60F for
applying indoor stain (and poly?), but the new can of Minwax oil-based
stain that I have makes no mention of _any_ temperature. And the first
coat on my poplar plant stand went well, in my 50F garage.
So, what would I be risking if I put another coat on (temp. might now
be near 40F) and poly after that? I have no place in the house where I
could isolate the smell to take advantage of the heat.
Mike
I've had bad results with trying to speed-up (specifically) minwax with light
bulbs, heat guns or quartz heaters.
What happens is that some of the stain gets into the pores, and the little
bit of extra heat makes the more volitile oils (which are still inside the pores
unevaporated even if they're gone on the surface) bubble stain to the surface and
it looks like someone did some shotgun distressing. The effect is most pronounced
on red oak (which has some pretty unbelievable pore action) but can be seen on maple
as well.
Minwax is actually pretty tough stuff when it (finally) dries, so good luck getting
those little dots off the thing.
Also, the paternalistic warning labels on my halogen worklites say not to use it
where there is any kind of vapors (including around cars with gas tanks) which
might be present in your garage.
[email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
> I've been finishing some small pieces in my cold garage. I shine a
> two-fixture halogen work light on them to keep them warm and speed
> drying.
>
[email protected] wrote:
> I've been finishing some small pieces in my cold garage. I shine a
> two-fixture halogen work light on them to keep them warm and speed
> drying.
Cold basement here - a radiant heater works well, as do a couple
incandescent lights if it's a relatively enclosed space.
Andy
I've finished things at lower temperatures, with pretty much the same
kind of stuff (minwax and varathane pro) but be prepared for looong
drying times. Especially for the minwax. Weeks. Worked OK for me,
but you should probably test it out first yourself.
"Oh" (I hear you saying) "I'll bring it into the heat once all the VOC
has evaporated" Bad idea... it's there to stay because the condensation
will immediately form on the surface, and that tends to be a "redo".
[email protected] wrote:
> I've seen archive posts refering to a minimum temperature of 60F for
> applying indoor stain (and poly?), but the new can of Minwax oil-based
> stain that I have makes no mention of _any_ temperature. And the first
> coat on my poplar plant stand went well, in my 50F garage.
>
> So, what would I be risking if I put another coat on (temp. might now
> be near 40F) and poly after that? I have no place in the house where I
> could isolate the smell to take advantage of the heat.
>
> Mike
>