The other day I posted about my results of using CPES under varnish. Mike Negley, who obviously has done a better job of reading the literature than I have, saw a discrepancy in the way I have been using it and the recommended usage. If CPES has been working as well as it has the way I've been using it, imagine how much better it will work using the recommended method. I guess it pays to periodically reread the manufacturers recommended methods on a periodic basis. Steve Smith, of Smith and Co., also sent me this email clarifying how it works. He asked me to post it as he isn't a list member. -- Steve Smith said: > Hi, Jim Mike Negley told me of your post concerning Clear > Penetrating Epoxy Sealer. Teh "sniff test" has to do with solvents > being pretty-much gone from the wood, so the filler can be put on top > of it without trapping solvents inside wood being restored. Solvent > evaporation , a physical process, has absolutely nothing to do with > chemical cure, a chemical process of atoms combining with other atoms > to make different molecular structures. Chemical reaction rates > depend only on time and temperature. Putting varnish on top of Clear > Penetrating Epoxy Sealer in order to get the best adhesion consists > of getting the first coat of varnish on top of the last coat of Clear > Penetrating Epoxy Sealer before the epoxy is about half-cured, so it > finishes curing under the varnish, thus grabbing the varnish and > gluing it down better than the varnish can stick by itself. Teh time > to do this depends on ambient temperature [average day-to-night > range], and whether one is using the Warm Weather Formula or the Cold > Weather Formula. As a rough rule of thumb, in your neck of the > woods, using the Warm Weather Formula, you can put the first varnish > on top of the last sealer the next day. > > I can't post on this list, not being a member, but I would appreciate > it if you would post this for me as a clarification. > > Thanks for all your support and enthisiasm for my products. > > Best regards > > Steve Smith > -- Jim McCorison Starfish Marine (619) 337-5370 http://manana.mccorison.com - Our Travels with Maqana http://www.starfishmarine.com - My Business