Metholated spirits and oil based "varnish" mix. What will happen??

[Mnb]

Hey guys,

I thought you might have some ideas on how much I have screwed up my coffee table - my first bloody furniture build.

After some tests on scrap left from the table I went with British Paints oil based varnish (gloss) in an aerosol bottle to finish it. Unfortunately, though it was good over a small area, the plastic nozzle blocked when I was doing the table. I cleaned it out and when it blocked again I grabbed one off the top of another aerosol (can't remember what now) and got the first coat done o.k.

I had a little tin of the same finish that I bought at the same time so I could try them both. I figured the aerosol would be a thinner version of the stuff in the tin so it could be sprayed. So if I thin the stuff in the tin I get the same finish and it will be easier to apply which suits my lack of experience. After going through the whole 'what is the equivalent of white/mineral spirits' in Australia I decided that mineral turpentine was the way to go to dilute it. (Which I have just confirmed was probably right from a thread in the forum.)

So today I got rid of the dust nibs from the first coat, mixed the varnish and did a second coat.

I put it in my parents spare room to dry (great to have somewhere out of the dust where no one goes) and was cleaning up when I realised I had grabbed the diggers metho rather than the diggers mineral turpentine.

The short version is that I thinned with metho instead of turps. I just left it for the night but I wonder what will happen.

[Tahlee]

Methylated

[ian]

in part it will depend on how much water was in the Mentholated spirits, and how much thinner you added to the finish.

Aerosol paints usually use something more volatile than Mineral turps as a thinner -- something like a mix of Toluene, naphtha and methyl ethyl ketone.
Usually the notes on can will tell you what the solvent is and what solvent to use for clean up. Just remember that when cleaning up, smearing and a longer drying time are not usually issues.


Give the table a full day to dry / cure and then have a close look a the finish under raking light. That will give you the best indication of how much rework -- hopefully none -- you will need to do.

[Mnb]

Yep you are correct it is Methylated spirits.

[Mnb]

Thanks Ian. Will do that.

It was about 20% Diggers Meths. Unfortunately it didn't say what to use to clean the brushes.

Good point regarding the aerosol. I didn't think of it that way. I just thought "I will thin it down".