Paint brush, hanging picture, air purifying, splitting nails

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Accuride Full Extension Zinc Box Drawer Slides (Series 3832)

Paint brushes, hang a picture, air purifying, splitting nails

Paint brushes to apply stain

It's best to use new paint brushes or brushes that have only been previously used for stain, because there may be teeny tiny flecks of paint or other stuff in a brush that has been used for painting that could cause you a lot of trouble when it might show in the final finish.

Very cheap brushes can be used to apply stain, since the only real role they play is getting the stain from the can to the surface and working stain into tight places. The crucial part of the staining procedure is wiping the excess stain and getting it even.

Paint brushes for furniture finish

When it comes to paint brushes, think of fussy for the finish.

Choose a brush designed especially for the type of finish you plan to use. The brushes will generally have the information printed on them or their packaging. If the package is sealed so you can't get to the brush, pass it up and go to a brush that you can inspect.

Riffle the bristles and whap them against the palm of your hand, if you have loose bristles in your hand you can figure that you'll have loose bristles in your finish.

Check for flagging. This is one time that split ends are priceless. The tip of the bristles should feel soft and furry. Separate the bristles and inspect them closely. Not all the bristles need to be flagged, but a large percentage should be split at the ends.

The flagging is what holds the product you're spreading and you need a good full brush to flow the finish on nicely.

Paint brushes for Dusting

Paint brushes are good for dusting any sanding work before you use a tack cloth. They're also very good for general dusting in tight places. Paint brushes can get into the grain of the wood and brush out hard to get at sawdust.

Quick tip for hanging a picture

When you're hanging a picture and have to drive a nail into the wall, put a piece of masking tape where the nail will be driven, in fact another piece crossing the first will make it better. Pound the nail carefully into the intersecting pieces of masking tape and you should have a clean hole rather than a jagged hole around the nail.

Now you can hang the picture because you want it there and not to cover a bad hole.

Air Purifier

Air purifying is a good idea if you do much refinishing, especially at home. There are two main systems for cleaning air. One is by filtration and using HEPA filters which trap particles as small as germs, as well as larger irritating particles from sanding and other activities. If you'd like to learn more about the filtration systems, this link has information about three different systems and has purchase information.

The other system is UV light and ozone. If you've seen the blue lights mounted on walls or sitting on counters at restaurants, bakeries or anywhere else that has food, it's a UV light. Food establishments use them for their germicidal qualities. There's a good explanation of the operation of UV Light and Ozone and links to different purifiers.

We use both types of air purifiers at home, because of allergies.

The gist of the function is that the UV Light creates ozone, in very controled amounts in home units, and the extra atom of oxygen in ozone attaches to dust and other particles making them heavy and they drop to the floor, then when we use the HEPA filter vacuum cleaner, they're all vacuumed up.

If we could stay home all the time we'd probably never have colds, but we'd end up going stir crazy, so a good old cold once in a while is a small price to pay for social activites.

Another bonus of air purification is rarely having to dust the furniture.

I use a larger ozone generator to eliminate odors, for instance a shed that had become musty smelling. I set the ozone generator up inside the shed and turned it up full bore for a couple of days and the shed had a very reasonable odor afterward. If I'd had a bad smelling piece of furniture in the building it would have been freshened too.

If you use ozone in this manner be sure to read all instructions and precautions. Ozone in a small amount is beneficial to allergy sufferers and for general health, but in very large amounts, generally not available in home units, can be deadly to humans and other animals. Always air out a room with a high concentration of ozone before you go in. Ozone at healthy levels is pleasant smelling, kind of like the air after a thunder storm (it's the same stuff, lightning creates ozone). Ozone in high concentrations is kind of acrid smelling and if the smell is so strong that it's unpleasant, there probably isn't enough oxygen to support life.

All the precautions make it kind of scary sounding, but home units are built with safetly features and generally aren't capable of creating an overzealous amount of ozone, so are generally safe to purify air.

Splitting Nails

Not on your finger, but nails that make boards split. If you have a problem with a board splitting when you drive a nail in it a good distance from the end, inspect the point of the nail. If the point is too sharp it will separate the fibers of the wood and push them away from the sides of the nail causing the wood to split. If you put the point of the nail on a metal or concrete surface and give the head a little tap it will blunt the tip of the nail and the blunted tip should push the wood fibers ahead of it instead of to the side and hopefully will keep from splitting.

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