I have been toying with the idea of using an air brush to impart lacquer to the caster cups that I create. I had even sent for the instructional video from one of the woodworking catalogues. It seems the cheapest basic unit runs around $50.000. I would have liked to try one out but thought that was too steep a price just to try something. Then I got my latest Harbor Freight sales brochure. In it they have their own brand of air brush on sale for $4.99. I could not resist. My concern was that I would have to thin the lacquer too thin to make it useful. I was also concerned about my WB lacquer corroding the insides of the little gun. As it turns out the parts are of stainless steel and brass, along with the plastic. I tried first spraying plain water , using my regular air compressor at around 15-20# pressure. It seemed to spray just fine. I then put my regular Min-Wax clear gloss WB , straight from the can, in the little 2 oz jar and it seemed to spray it just fine also. I have been building up the finish on 1 caster cup to give me an idea of how useful it may be. So far I am impressed. I make sure to clean the sprayer out with clear water after the lacquer and the whole thing seems to be just fine. I went back and bought 2 more units so I would have spare parts. At $5 a pop, hard to lose. It appears that it would be good for minor touch up work or tinting or just small places or things to finish. The pressure is not critical as I do not even have a pressure regulator on my compressor, just a volume control and judging the pressure by feel. Any one else using one of these little tools and if so, in what capacity? James Grebe Piano-Forte Tuning & Repair Artisan of Wood WWW.JamesGrebe.com 1526 Raspberry Lane Arnold, MO 63010 BECOME WHAT YOU BELIEVE! pianoman@accessus.net
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