February 22, 2023

Further 50

Tuesday

One of the pitfalls of the fine filler I like to use at this stage is that it is a slow-cure hardener.  There’s a fast-hardener version (red), but I don’t care for it; I tried it years ago and while I can’t remember what it was I didn’t like, I know I didn’t, so I always use the gray slow version.  But even in good times the product takes its time coming to a workable cure.

I had applied the filler late the day before, and though I’d hoped otherwise, I knew there was a chance it wouldn’t quite be ready to sand in the morning–and indeed it was not.  I could still dent the filler with a fingernail, and my attempt to sand (I had to try) resulted in immediately-clogged discs.  This was frustrating, but there was nothing for it but to bump the heat and wait.

I mollified myself by doing what I could to prepare the primers and equipment for the next step, work that had to be done sometime, so doing it now would save me some time after sanding, whenever it happened.

Total time billed on this job today: 1 hour

0600 Weather Observation: Fair, 30°, dew point 15°. Forecast for the day: Mostly sunny, 36°