A Wasted Week, Almost: Friday Update
I knew going in to last weekend that this week was going to be light. I had planned for it as my wife and I had plans with friends to go to our college reunion at the University of Portland. We were all geared up to go when Friday morning we fell ill and had to cancel.
Off our friends went, leaving us to tend to each other in the most beautiful weather of the year, watching movies and napping. I spent the weekend caretaking while avoiding sickness until Monday when it hit me hard and laid me up for three days.
Hence, a wasted week.
Almost.
In that time I had the opportunity while I still felt up to it to spray a final top coat on the Lazy Susan. Remember that project I started months ago?
The reason I had to wait was paint. The paint I used is the Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane, a durable cabinet and trim paint. It’s tough stuff but the problem with water borne urethanes is they take a while to cure. In that curing period the paint slowly hardens, but as it does so it needs to be exposed to air to let the reaction take place. If I top coated too early the paint would stay soft and be a poor bonding surface for the top coat, resulting in the finish flaking off.
I wished I could have sprayed in the garage as I usually do, but I had a giant slab of wood in the way. So I opted for the side yard next to the trash cans.
The thing about my yard is it is mostly shaded due to the large trees all around our house. That helps when spraying outside because spraying in direct sunlight is a no-no.
The sun heats up the surface you are spraying and makes the finish dry too fast. Finish, when sprayed, needs the opportunity to settle out to smooth itself, otherwise it will dry in little bubbles resulting in a bumpy finish.
Well I had the luck of having the sun hit my Susan in the only hour and a half I had to spray all week.
No big deal, just more work for me. A bumpy finish can be smoothed by sanding it back. I sprayed extra coats to avoid another round of spraying, but time will tell. I haven’t felt good enough to get back out there and work yet.
Lower right, you can see the bumps. Those usually settle out but this time the finish dried too fast.