Week 4

On Saturday, March 11th, 2006, we removed the cups and wiped the chips.

Each day, since starting the test, the water condensation from the previous day was ALWAYS on the chip.  As we stated, we never wiped the water from the chip.  Therefore, the chip was basically covered in water from Monday-Saturday.  The water ran around the cup edge and typically down toward the bottom of the picture...although never falling off the chip.

Sample 1        completely unfinished
Sample 2        (1) coat of PU finish + (2) undercoat PU sealers
Sample 3        (2) coats of PU finish + (2) undercoat PU sealers
Sample 4        (5) coats of PU finish + (2) undercoat PU sealers
Sample 5        (2) coats of PU finish + (4) undercoat PU sealers
Sample 6        (2) coats of PU finish + (6) undercoat PU sealers
Sample 7        (1) coat of Melamine finish + (2) undercoat Melamine sealers
Sample 8        American cabinet company drawer front (head).

Again, another similar week from 1, 2, and 3.

As we stated last week, I wanted to picture how the cups look in the morning.  Here is what we basically see each morning.  The picture below is today, Saturday, March 11th, 2006.  You can see how the water condensates and just sits there.  The left pic basically shows samples 2-7.  The right pic shows 6 and 7.

All we did here was lift the cups and empty the water.  Again, notice the chips and the amount of water that sits DAILY.  I want to repeat.  This is NOT removed each day when filling the cups

Here are the chips just wiped clean without any cleaning or elbow grease to remove water stains.

The next (2) pics are really what we are watching.  This is SAMPLE 2 and SAMPLE 3 in the left pic.  Again, this is what we use in our bar finishing.  Again, spotless....but SAMPLE 2 does seem to have a water-mark toward the bottom.  I know it was removed when cleaned.  Look at this spot in week 5...and you will see it clean.  No discoloration in either of the finishes and no surface wear.

This, of course, is SAMPLE 7 and SAMPLE 8.  The pics are directly after removing the cups.  Again, afetr several hours, both samples will lose some of the white and return to a darker finish.

This is SAMPLE 7.  It is maybe 2 hours after the initial shots.  The color is returning.

This is just about 2+ hours after the initial pictures.

What I wanted to point out here is SAMPLE 7 again.  I disabled the flash for this pic.  This is still 2+ hours after initial pics.  The flash glare removes the white color a bit.  Yet, I have noticed something I have tried to capture in the left pic.  It looks like a ring is developing slightly.  I can't rub it out yet.  I noticed it last week, but didn't mention it.  This 'could' be some wearing down of the surface. 

Sample 7 may look very bad directly after removing the cups, but DOES return to a rather dark normal color within 3-4 hours.  We have not seen anything permanent yet, other than what we just mentioned.  All the samples have suffered a great deal of water....and even sample 7 isn't looking too bad - considering the amount of water.

We are now at 480+/- hours of surface water.  Again, not much to talk about.  This week yielded nothing new again.  We just wanted to highlight the samples in the morning, as pictured above.  We could be seeing something happening in SAMPLE 7 - but it's very minor.  SAMPLE 7 has no surface roughness - as well as SAMPLE 2-6.  SAMPLE 8 does have considerable surface roughness.