IT'S ARRIVED!

Our first batch of 116 Anchorstencil tape has landed and we'reexpecting more in the New Year. Itwill take a little while for our stocklevels to get back to normal butthe good news is Anchor tape isbeing manufactured to the samehigh standards as before.Unfortunately not all products areavailable just yet. We have 116,125, 153 20” but as yet we don'thave T226 in any sizes. Anchorhave suggested that the T226 willbe available towards the end ofJanuary but if the production run isdelayed like the 116 then I wouldexpect delivery of T226 in Marchat the earliest. I'm due to see asample roll just before Christmasso I can test it and check itcompares favourably with theoriginal T226 tape.

PRICE INCREASE

As we've been saying for sometime now, the fallout from Brexitwas inevitably going to lead to priceincreases. We've finally had to buydollars for the Anchor tape and weweren't far off with our estimate of£20 increase per roll of Anchor116. Prices for Anchor have nowbeen fixed for the next 6 months.With a bit of luck by the time weget to the trade show next yearwe'll have better news on theexchange rates and prices will dropbut we'll just have to wait and seehow negotiations go in Brussels.

SAFE FIXING

When I first was told that weneeded to include instructions withall our ground anchors I wasinitially sceptical. Masons havebeen trained in the use of anchorsand really should know how to use

them without having instructionsincluded in every box. However, itappears as though I might havebeen wrong. From the number ofcalls we have had following ourlast newsletter it looks as thoughmasons take their test andsometimes forget some of thefundamental pieces of informationthey have learnt. If you rememberone thing from the training courseit should be that hole size isimportant. We've been selling oursolid peg system for eight yearsnow and we've always suggestedthat if the 27mm peg fits yourground anchor hole you shoulduse it rather than a 25mm peg.I've recently seen some instancesof 25mm ground anchors beingused in 40mm holes though. Inorder for an anchor to do it's job,the anchor has to lock into thehole in the granite base. A 25mmanchor does not make contact

VOLUME 26 ISSUE 2 NEWS FOR THE MEMORIAL INDUSTRY

Christmas 2016• Anchor 116 in stock• Fixing Instructions• Kerb Fixings

• One Shot sealant• SolviStrip• NAMM Tradex

NEWS

with a hole that size and will notprevent the memorial collapsingcatastrophically, potentially injuringsomeone in the process. At theend of the day, if a memorial failsbecause the fixing system hasbeen used incorrectly theresponsibility will lie with you oryour fixer mason, please read theinstructions and act accordingly.

CHRISTMAS RUSH

With a bit of luck your Christmasorders are all done and you've gotyour feet up having a break whilstreading our latest newsletter but iflike us your feet have hardlytouched the floor then you're ingood company! Why is it thatwhenever you're in a rush there's ajob that comes back to bite you?We thought it was going to be ourtwo full length kerbset jobs at theedge of our normal working areabut with the help of our mechanicalkerb fixings we managed to fit bothsets of kerbs in a morning and stillget two more jobs fitted in theafternoon!

The mechanical kerb fittings utilisea very clever push fitting thatdoesn't require any resin and,more importantly, doesn't putsignificant pressure onto thegranite. The insert is only pressed10mm into the granite but iscapable of supporting 300kg whichwe'll be demonstrating at...

NAMM TRADEX

It's trade show time again and forthose that didn't attend the NAMMTradex in 2015 it's well worth thevisit. Having split from the NFEafter poor support from thememorial trade the NAMM Tradexin 2015 was a roaring success.The show was well supported byboth wholesale memorial suppliersand trade suppliers like ourselves.The best thing was that it was alsowell supported by the masonswhich means that next year there

will be even more to see becausethere are more displays planned.We're currently putting together ourdisplay items but expect moreinformation about the show in ournewsletters next year.

ONE SHOT SYSTEM

We mention paints a lot in ournewsletters, mainly because weare constantly looking for bettersolutions. We usually sell what weuse rather than using what we sellbut in the case of One Shot paintswe sell them but don't actually usethem at all. Lots of masons likeOne Shot paints because they are

bright, easy to use and havereasonable life expectancy. Whatyou may be less familiar with is therange of products in the One Shotfamily. The two products that areoften overlooked are the brushcleaner and clear sealant. Youcould be mistaken for thinking thatthe brush cleaner is just a standardpaint thinner or mineral spirit but infact it is specifically designed toclean brushes of One Shot paints.The process for looking after yourbrushes should be: rinse in spiritcleaner to remove the bulk of thepaint, then clean with One Shot4004 brush cleaner and store.Before using the brush again youshould rinse it again in 4004 brushcleaner to ensure any remainingpaint is removed from the bristles.The 4004 brush cleaner is fargentler than spirits on the bristlesof a brush and does a better job ofremoving paint from the heel of thebrush. Both these factors will alsoresult in less bristle loss whenpainting.

The sealant is available both in aliquid for brushing and an aerosolfor spraying. It will provide aprotective layer to One Shot paints

and increase it's life expectancyby protecting it from harmful UVwhich will fade colours and alsoabrasion caused by cleaningproducts. The sealant can also beused as a protective coating forgold leaf, it's very difficult to tellthat it has been applied as thegold keeps it's unique shine andlustre but it will protect it from theelements giving a longer lastingfinish to gold leaf.

PAINT STRIPPER

We've been finding that Nitromorsis no longer as good as it oncewas. It may have been affected bythe removal of a core ingredientbut increasingly we were needingto apply it multiple times toremove paint from oldermemorials. We tried a number ofalternatives but until recently wewere just putting up with the extratime taken to remove paint priorto repainting inscriptions. We'venow started using and supplyingSolviStrip which is very effective,often requiring only oneapplication to completely removeold paint from initial inscriptions.

Whilst we're on the subject ofadditional inscriptions to existingmemorials we've beeninvestigating a number of optionsto reduce the amount of paintspeckling we get when paintingnon black granites. Whilst wehaven't as yet got a solution forthe worst offenders like emeraldpearl, we are getting good resultson a lot of colours like SouthAfrican Grey. We've startedapplying treacle with a firm rollerto the stone prior to painting (withan air brush, not bristles!). Whenthe treacle is applied thinly itprotects the polished surfacewithout getting into the lettering.We can then spray the paint intoboth the existing and new letteringwithout leaving speckles of silverpaint all over the stone. Cleaningthe excess paint off is a simpletask and the treacle even smellsquite nice too!

ANOTHER YEAR OLDER

Gavin, Lee, Mike, Monika, Rob,Steve and Sue want to wish you avery Merry Christmas and aHappy and Prosperous New Year.

Published by The Blast Shop, S. Critchley & Son Ltd, Langley Road, Pendlebury, Manchester M27 8SS.Tel : 0161-351-6545 Fax : 0161-745-8071 E-mail : info@theblastshop.co.uk Web Site : www.theblastshop.co.uk

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