UV light use to accelerate finish drying

[George Saridakis]

Hi Foks,

I am using lights & ballasts from a tanning company in home made flourescent fixtures to accelerate the drying time of Tried & True Varnish oil on my 3D wood work. I have been able to reduce the drying time from several days to ovenight.
I am attaching a picture of my homemade drying booth

I have heard that guitar makers also use this approach.

Is there anyone out there I could compare notes with on this seat of the pants effort?

Is anyone using commercially available UV lighting for 3D work as the Woodshop News article (12/03) only talked about people using it for flatwork?

Pictures of my finished product are on the gallery page of
www.saridakis.com (http://www.saridakis.com)

George

[Chris Padilla]

Hi George,

Heckuva first post! Welcome! I must admit that you are the first to bring this news to my virgin ears but it sounds interesting.

I guess there's no need to warn you about the spinners on this site! :p

Again, Welcome to SMC--I think we might have a lot to learn from you! :)

[Jamie Buxton]

George ---

Everybody always moans about getting cherry to age to its deep color. I know that exposure to strong sunlight speeds it along, because I use that trick in the summer. I've read that it is the UV in sunlight which does the aging, and wondered whether I could use a tanning bed to do the job, particularly in winter. However, I've never gotten around to trying the experiment. But here you are, all set up to try it.
So here's what I propose you do. (<G> Easy for me to say!) Cut a freshly-machined piece of cherry in two. Stick one of the pieces in your "tanning bed", and keep the other piece outside for reference. Observe what happens, and let us know.

Jamie

[George Saridakis]

George ---

Everybody always moans about getting cherry to age to its deep color. I know that exposure to strong sunlight speeds it along, because I use that trick in the summer. I've read that it is the UV in sunlight which does the aging, and wondered whether I could use a tanning bed to do the job, particularly in winter. However, I've never gotten around to trying the experiment. But here you are, all set up to try it.
So here's what I propose you do. ( Easy for me to say!) Cut a freshly-machined piece of cherry in two. Stick one of the pieces in your "tanning bed", and keep the other piece outside for reference. Observe what happens, and let us know.

Jamie

Jamie,

Having put hundreds of pieces of cherry through this, I will say it darkens it considerably, however I cannot tell how much is just the UV and how much is due to the Tried and True Varnish Oil finish I use.

I will perform the experiment you mentioned and post pictures of the results.

George

[David Durgy]

Is there anyone out there I could compare notes with on this seat of the pants effort?

George,
Never thought my job would come into play here. I work for a tanning bed importer and we also distribute lamps and parts. I'm sure you could take your experiment to many different levels with all the variables there are. There is a wide array of lamps available with varying levels of UVB, which is considered the "burning ray". All lamps are a combination of UVB and UVA. I would think you would want more UVB for aging. In theory if you went into a tanning bed with only UVA you could stay in all day and not burn because it does not affect the surface of your skin, it goes into the deeper layers that produce the browning.
I'm also interested in whether you are using 100W or 160W ballasts.
I would also place the pieces on on a piece of sheet metal with a piece of plexi on it. The rays do relect so it may give you better 3D even aging.
I'm sure I have more technical data at work. E mail me at work if you want details. davidd@futureindustries.com