Temporary Finish To Show The Grain?

[custard]

Often I'll want to see how a board might look once it's finished. I'll either be showing a board to a client, or aiming to email them a quick snap.

Sometimes I'll just slop water on it, but I never like wetting a board unnecessarily. I've used acetone and meths, but they evaporate so fast it's hard to get a photo in time and most clients need to gaze at a board for a decent while to really grasp what you're showing them.

Anyone got any other suggestions? I've heard some people use naptha, but is that just more of the same and would it affect subsequent finishes?

Thanks.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Isopropyl alcohol - although that evaporates quickly, as well. Isopropyl is a fantastically useful stuff to have around, anyway, it is useful for so many little cleaning jobs - remains of sticky labels, insides of car windscreens, your glasses, PU and epoxy glue from your hands (only when wet) all sorts. £15 for 5 separate litres delivered on Ebay. I only got some recently and I'll never again be without it.

 

[AndyT]

I'd use turps / turps substitute / white spirit, on the grounds that it's the sort of thing I might be wiping over before finishing any way (to remove grease, finger marks, dirt etc).

They are a bit slower to evaporate than alcohol or acetone.

But I could be doing it all wrong!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I wouldn't use turps substitute for anything. More often than not it is the same price as white spirit, and white spirit has a BS number - turps sub can be anything the manufacture chooses to get rid of on the day.

 

[marcros]

I use isopropanol alcohol or white spirit.

 

[oakmitre]

IPA is very safe and has lots of other uses so will not go to waste.It also does not usually attack plastic unlike Acetone.

When you buy it, make sure you get the 99% type - you do not want the IPA Rubbing type which is diluted with water.

They tend to be sold side by side on ebay, some times by the same seller.

 

[profchris]

White Spirit. It will keep its wet look for 3 or 4 minutes, and I've never had finish problems as a result (though I always start with shellac).

 

[custard]

Thank you all. White spirit seems to do the trick.

 

[thick_mike]

Isopropanol is a much more pleasant smell than white spirit and it has the advantage that you'll never be without windscreen washer fluid (10% IPA in water with a squirt of fairy liquid).