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Old 10-16-2020, 02:38 PM
mhw48 mhw48 is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: NYC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by justonwo View Post
I’m not sure you and Bob are agreeing here. He’s saying drying is a physical process (evaporation of solvents) and curing is a chemical process (not related to solvents). It sounds like you’re saying solvents are evaporating in both cases. I actually know little about finish chemistry.
I'm not disagreeing with Bob. I think a confusion of tongues occurred between us because, as Bob rightly noted, "drying" of lacquer refers to hardening through evaporation of solvents, while "curing" of oil varnish refers to chemical polymerization. However, for a craftsman "dry time", for either lacquer or varnish, refers to the length of time between coats, "cure time" refers to the time before the instrument can be put to use. So when I call Nick for an update, he'll say "the varnish is drying" because he just put on another coat and stuck the guitar in his UV drying box. Once all the coats have been applied, he'll say "the finish is curing for a while" before he sends it to me.
Both statements mean I have to wait!

Quote:
Originally Posted by justonwo View Post
I’m fairly sure your guitar is going to dry and cure into a work of art!
That's the important point!
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