Little tips to save those all important pennies

[proudy1959]

A few tips here that will save a little bit of money

1. Cleaning your paint brushes - all important if you have spent a lot of dosh on a good quality brush. After use clean as usual with white spirit to get the thick off, then whilst rinsing in clean warm water rub washing powder into the brissles with your thumb and forefinger until clean. You will be surprised at how well this works and will save you having to buy new ones so often, they come up like new.
2. Wood Fillers - how many tins/tubes of filler do you aquire and 9 times out of 10 when you come to use them they are dried up and useless. After sanding your workpiece keep the sanding dust, mix it with PVA wood glue to form a paste and use this to fill any areas that need it. After a little practice this will give you the correct wood colour for the filler, and you can make it as you need it.
3. High Gloss Paint Finish - wanting a high gloss finish, using car paint & laquer unsucessfully, painting then sanding time after time and still not getting the finish you want, heres a little trick that has worked very well for me. When your piece is ready for its top coat, use standard household gloss paint (not non-drip) and mix this with gloss varnish, I use yatch varnish as this is very hard wearing. The mix should be 3 parts paint 1 part varnish, this mix can be brushed on and leaves very little brush marks if any at all. Usually one coat is enough but I have had to coat twice on a few occaisions. The drying time is a little longer than most, touch dry within 2 hours or so, but the finish is very good, it works better on dark colours but all in all produces a excellent finish no matter what.

These tips were given to me by a guy I used to work along side, he was a painter & decorater but was invaluable with information, he's probably about 180 years old now.

I will post some more of his tips & tricks plus my own when I have a little more time.

Anyway, I hope these 3 help some of you, please let me know how you get on if you use them.

[Ellwood T Bear]

Thanks