Statue bases – day 6

The stain has set for two days, and I had a few minutes, this evening,  to get the first coat of polyurethane on. If I was brushing on the poly, I would need an hour or two, but I will be spraying.  The boxes have a lot of nooks and crannies, and the sprayer works well on those.

My $20 spray booth

First step is to clean the entire shop and move all of my tools out… Not! I have just enough room to set up a really quick, and cheap, spray booth. I simply purchased a couple of 10’x50′ rolls of 4 mil plastic from the local Home Depot, and grabbed a few of my spring clamps to clamp it to the ceiling. I wrap it all the way around my spray area, and put about a 3′ overlap where the door will be. I wouldn’t recommend this for someone who sprays a lot, because I haven’t accounted for any ventilation, but it is great for quick spray jobs, now and then.

Spray booth set up in five minutes

I pulled my spray equipment down from the cabinet and laid it out. I won’t need everything, but I keep it all in a bucket that I use for clean-up, when I am done.

My spraying supplies

I have checked the consistency of Minwax polyurethane before and found it thin enough to go through the sprayer without having to add anything else, so I just pour a pint in and set it all up.

Minwax Polyurethane, no need to thin

Just 10 minutes of setup and I am ready to spray. I put on my protective clothing, i.e. an old dress shirt to cover my hairy arms, and a hat to cover my hair on my head, and definitely a good respirator.  Without any ventilation, I will be spraying in a bit of a fog. The vaporized poly feels like hair spray all over if I don’t cover up, and I definitely wouldn’t be able to breathe without the respirator.

Donning my spraying gear

Spraying back and forth in an overlapping pattern, I finish the first box in about three minutes.

One done

Another three minutes, and both boxes have their first coat.

First coat applied

Since the booth takes up half of my shop, I am pretty much done for today. Hopefully tomorrow, I can get the second coat on, and I will be just about done. Since it sprays on thin, it may need a third. We’ll see.