Hey fellas,

I finally made the switch out of necessity to ~50/50 Spar urethane / turps, my question is how will cold temps affect this mix? the shop never gets below 40 degrees and if the heat is off, it is typically 45-50 from residual vehicle / fridge heat.

Will the low temps cause it to gel up? I hate to bring it to the basement as that is around 60-65 degrees

Thanks in advance,
MS

over a period of time it will skin over. With the can closed the air inside will react with the finish and form a skin. Some do not feel the skin is a problem, and once formed will stop further drying. I usually cut a piece of wax paper to the size of the container and place on the surface of the finish, preventing a skin to form until the next use. This has worked very well for me on any oil type finish. The temperature will only affect the speed at which the the skin will form, naturally the higher the temp the faster the formation. No top on the can will result in the finish drying to a point where it will no longer combine with the air (oxidation reduction process). With the top on the skin formation is limited to the air in the can, the temperature of the can will only aid in the time it takes to skin over. I don't think the temperatures you describe are optimal for the deepest sealing, but would not recommend using the sealer in the house, especially with turps which are more volatile than mineral spirits. If you keep the sealer warm(closed container) and warm the plugs you will get better penetration.

Ed

Store Leftover Finish With Bloxygen - Inert Gas (http://www.bloxygen.com/)

cant expound on the cold temps...sorry. I can say that it does like to be warmed (no sparks, flames etc). I did just that and warmed the nekkid bodies, soaked in the urethane. Really changed things. Only did it once as its a PIA. Wood readily soaked up the sealer better than cool alot faster to as in just dip in and remove.

I use almost the same mix, I keep it in a tall wide mouth canning jar in my basement which is around 60 degrees. The canning jar has one of those 2 piece lids, I put a piece of ziplock bag between the 2 to help give a better seal.Give it a good shaking a few times a week. I haven't had a problem with it skimming over yet and I've had this batch for around a year

cold will only slow down the process.. my shop stays around 60 year 'round... air is the culprit ( as others have stated) another reason i went to the dip tubes... there is very little surface area in comparison to the volume of fluid.. mine have been in the tubes since october and have never skinned ( a mixture of Urethain/tung oil and oderless mineral spirits).. after each session the tubes are capped off...and that mixture is from last season..when Im done building for the season... I strain out the mixture through a paint filter to take out any forgien matter and fill gallon paint cans full... cover with plastic wrap and install the lid...and put them on a shelf until next fall...

Any issues with adding a layer of plastic wrap before I screw the lid on (will the turps cause any problems with it)? I use a one gallon glass pickle jar!

MS