Would this be an option for accelerating the cure, or would it make some kind of huge mess. Relative humidity is really low right now in this part of the country.

A tea kettle emitting steam is, in fact, what Ralph recommends in very dry climates.

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Have you had much problem with it drying quickly enough, even when it's fairly low humidity?

We typically have very dry winters here and it still seems to act about the same for me is why I'd asked. I really haven't seen too much change in time of drying. It sure is fast at setting up!!

Putter
Williston, ND

The dewpoint here at the moment is 29 degrees F, making it 37% RH. It seems tac-free after 2 hours, but I'm wondering how long I need to wait after my first coat. Also, TK, how close does it need to be to the tea kettle. I have a computer engineering degree from Clemson (now paying over 2M a year to keep Tommy), not a mechanical engineering degree from Duke, so I'm not as good at figuring how vapor pressure and molecular motion translates into a change in relative humidity as I move away from the tea pot. Now if you want to talk about he migration of holes and electrons through a semi-conductive material...

Whoa!! Too technical for ol' prairie kid here... There's humid when I don't hardly have to move and I'm sweating, there's that inbetween, where I really can work hard and just sweat a bit, then there's dry... like last night, when my 2 year old grandson and I were playing his favorite - toss him in the Lazy Boy and rock him fast while he rolls all around belly laughing. His 3 inch-long thin, blonde hair was all standing out in the neatest little afro you've ever seen.

Putter
Williston, ND

The primary problem in dry climates will be how to minimize tiny tiny bubbles that form during the cure cycle. The material balance of the moisture component and the solvent phase within the Perma Gloss have something to do with the outgassing that occurs during the cure. The cure period is affected by the humidity. It must cure slow enouth to allow the gasses to be able to escape. I have talked to Ralph about this and he is has told me that I am fortunate to work in a climate that the relative humidity is normally above 70%. I wait for rainy days to do a Threadless guide to minimize the bubbles and it seems to work. This problem is probably most visible to those who are trying to build a thickness of the Perma Gloss on top of thread in a dry area. A dry area could also be a room in a cold climate with gas heat - put a pot of water on the stove in the same room.

Marty,

If you put a steaming tea kettle on the stove in the same room as you're attempting to dry your Permagloss, you'll be fine. It doesn't take that much to raise the humidity in a small room to the degree that will cause the PM to set fairly rapidly.

Obviously if you have the tea kettle at one end of the house and the rod somewhere at the other end of the house you'll have to pump out a lot of steam to do much good.

Generally you can apply a second coat as soon as the first one isn't tacky. Even in fairly dry climates that would be about an hour. With some steam going, you could likely recoat in half that time. I've found that at 70%+ RH it only requires about 20 to 30 minutes before a recoat is possible.


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Thanks Tom. I'm just poking fun at you, by the way. Also, Tommy Bowden used to be at Duke; but you probably knew that.

Hey Marty...

I thought a computer engineering degree from Clemson was good for estimating fthe decomposition rate of hay at 37% relative humidity so you have enough hay to keep the cows fed all winter. JUST MESSING WITH YA. I went to The Citadel so thought I'd poke at someone else from a SC school.

Alex