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From everything I have read and based on all the great advice of this forum, PATIENCE and waiting seems to be a key factor in finishes. What do you all do when you just can't wait for cure times etc. based on client expectations, impatience or other? Do you use a heat lamp to speed up the process? Something else?

Thanks

I was finishing a few banjo necks a while back and while none of them were
in a rush I decided to put them on a stool outside my shop and let the bright
sun speed up the curing process. The two plain necks were fine and sanded
and polished well. The one that was painted black bubbled and had to be
re-refinished!
This is something I do regularly when the weather is nice and I’d rather keep
the fumes outside anyway, but do check on thing frequently and rotate
often.

Patience is the bottom line in great finishes!

Louis

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- Louis Freilicher

Oh No! Not another learning experience!

IMO, client expectation should be for a guitar with a good/great finish on it. NOT based on a time frame, unless you've told him/her a certain time frame and now can't deliver because of waiting on the finish.

Nitro is best to let sit. You may gain a bit of time with a warmer shop, but I doubt that you would gain more than a couple of days.

Everything I've read in all finishing books and other builders information is to let nitro set up for 3 weeks minimum, and 4 weeks is better. I seem to recall Tim McKnight saying he left his 6 weeks if he could.

You really want to instill in your client the age old saying "all good things come to those who wait". It's just not worth rushing. The third guitar I built I was never happy with the finish job. The owner who is an accomplished cabinet maker and does great finishing, decided to strip it down and finish it him self. He left it set up for 2 weeks (I told him he should wait for 4, but he was to impatient) and it never turned out well, it was fine for a satin finish but there was no chance for it to buff out to gloss.

He stripped that finish off (he didn't like the lacquer that he used either) and we finished it together in my shop. We left it for 3 weeks this time (used McFadden's nitro) and it still seemed soft, he couldn't wait though and still thinks about refinishing again.

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start or finish other builds in the shop. for us there is a month cure time added to the finish process.

Subject says it all.

_________________
Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

     In water, the greatest influence of evaporation is movement of air. Heat is a factor, of course, but air movement is greater. This was difficult for me to grasp at first, but the solvent has to go into air to escape the finish media. Thus, the smell of the solvent when drying. The release of solvents as I understand it are virtually the same thing.

    I have preheated(120-140ish F) what I was spraying, to kind of give a head start on drying the first coat, as the theory goes the inner coat solvents have to migrate the furthest and through the others. I haven't noticed the finish suffering because of it. I only heat the first coat because of concern of the "banjo effect" mentioned earlier. I would probably never preheat a guitar!
   
     I've never stuck a fan on a finish but the theory goes...! I really wouldn't even mess with anything else but let it go! Experimentation is good, but I wouldn't do it on anything but a test piece.

     There's other things to consider, even though a finish may feel dry to the touch and hard to some degree the underlying coating takes longer and isn't as readily apparent. Part of the sanding process involves leveling the surface, if you level before the finish has fully flashed(solvent escape) you could get minor blem's on a high luster finish due to variations in thickness of the final drying!
    

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

A good rule that I always try to remember (and it applies to a lot more than customer's waiting for guitars):

You will be forgiven for delivering something great late more often than delivering a piece of junk on time.

Happy Thanksgiving.
Glen

Doing some sanding after the final lacquer coat, but prior to the waiting period will speed up curing. The sanding exposes more surface area which increases solvent off-gassing.

As always, great info. Thank you all very much!