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Question About Using Water to Fill Space Journal Hint

Barbara, I wondered that myself. This sounds like an opportunity to experiment .... perhaps simply pour the amount of finish you need for your project into a small can, then dip your brush into that. This might solve the problem of your brush inadvertently touching the water in the larger container. Let me know what you find out.

Betty Scarpino, editor, AW
 
Betty Scarpino said:
Barbara, I wondered that myself. This sounds like an opportunity to experiment .... perhaps simply pour the amount of finish you need for your project into a small can, then dip your brush into that. This might solve the problem of your brush inadvertently touching the water in the larger container. Let me know what you find out.

Betty Scarpino, editor, AW
Click to expand...

i would suspect that, depending on the shape of the container and the opening, that as you tilt the container to pour, the oil would stay at the top and the water would pour out first.
 
Well, I thought I knew what the answer was…But I was wrong.
I thought by the time the brush reached the water, it would be saturated with oil and repel the water, leaving it in the bottom of the container.
So, this is what I set up, small glass bowl with water and food coloring, oil floating on top and a piece of twisted up paper towel acting as a brush. The idea was to dip the brush and paint it onto a paper towel to see if there was color transfer. What I found was, dipping the paper towel brush into just the oil layer was as you would expect, no colored water transfer. When dipping through the oil layer into the colored water, the water did not absorb into the brush, but it did adhere, and followed the brush through the oil layer and was transferred to the paper towel. So I guess the idea is to not dip through the oil layer, and if it happens, dab the brush on something absorbent before applying it to a project. No judgment pro or con, it’s my day off, and I couldn’t get moving this morning…
c
Ps. the water cannot pour out from underneath the oil...
 
What we have been doing for years with Waterlox is to put it into empty plastic water bottles
I pour what I will use into a small bowl for application.
Then squeeze the bottle with cap loose until the Waterlox runs out a bit and tighten the cap.
After a while I have to fold the bottom up to squeeze the air out.

Seems to work just fine for a couple of months or more and waterlox likes to gel into uselessness.

The only concern I have is that plastic water bottles are going to cheaper screw tops with less threads but they still work.
 
To Stay Clear of the Water

Put your oil finishes into glass jars (as was shown in the Journal). That way, you'll be able to see how deep you can dip your brush. You'd need to do this anyway with Watco, Waterlox, and most oil finishes that come in pint or quart cans with small screw caps.
 
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