Sounds more like a soap opera title, perhaps. But if Gold Rush can have their “Aftershow” and The Bachelor and The Bachelorette can air “After The Final Rose” then I too can talk about something after the dust has settled. There’s more to a story than what meets the eye or the imagination and that’s what I am going to try to capture here.

Testing the product and getting to know Aguatana has been an exciting experience for me. I remember the day years back when my vendor rep. told me that M.L. Campbell was bringing both a new pre-cat and post-cat water borne to market. Being the diehard post-cat solvent guy that I am, I couldn’t wait for the day when I could get my hands (and those of my customers) on products that, I hoped, would be the equals of Magnamax, DuraVar and Krystal. I think now, years later, that day may have finally arrived.

Agualente is a great pre-cat water-borne lacquer. It is, in a number of ways, close in performance to Magnamax and such an improvement over its first generation poly/acrylic stable mates. I think that my customers would agree with that statement.

Yet, their post-cat water-borne,AguaBarnice, in my opinion, never was comparable with DuraVar and Krystal. Okay, that’s REALLY tough company to compete against and, granted, Agua-B is still a great coating.But I’d stackDuraVar and Krystal upagainst anything on the solvent side of the market and know that they would meet or beat that. It’s not that Agua-B is bad, it’s just that the bar is set extremely high elsewhere.

In my mind, here now is a third generation of water-borne coating. With Aguatana, M.L. Campbell really has something to be proud of. I wish them all the best in the years ahead and I hope that it stands the test of time. And, I think that Agua-T will replace Agua-B. Let’s hide and watch!

Left turn, Clyde!

We take the time to spray out new products so that we can know in our hearts and minds what that product will do when our customers get their hands on it. But most importantly, we do it to decide for ourselves if we are going to bring it in for stock in our warehouse. That’s our bottom line commitment to our customers.

I have been heralding the arrival of Aguatana for months among our high-end customers who use water-borne products. I felt so confident after spraying Agua-T that I had a friend use it on a walnut table that he was making. I would like you to take a look at my buddy Dave Anderson’s table. I think that it is not only a beautiful piece in and of itself, but that the finish adds to its beauty and detracts not at all. And for a table, a tough test for any finish, this one will do just fine. Please enjoy the pictures and join me in saying that Anderson Design Woodcraft of Salem, Oregon has created another beautiful piece with this table design. Way to go, Dave!

Dave and I had a whole string of e-mails, phone calls, and text messages as he put the finishing touches on his table and got it ready for the finish shop. I sent him some Aguatana and catalyst and provided my technical support gained by spraying Aguatana myself the week before. On Friday, he delivered the table to Seattle. He stopped by the warehouse on the way to show me the finished product. I took two of these pictures in the parking lot. Then, off he went to deliver the table.

When we parted that Friday, he being the guy he is, thanked me warmly for the support and encouragement throughout his build. I had spent the day with him the day he steam bent the walnut. Oregon walnut harvesting, milling, drying, and building furniture are just a few of Dave’s passions. My response to Dave’s thanks was immediate and in the form of an oft-repeated phrase. I said, “If you succeed, then we succeed.” Dave hit the ball out of the park.

Until next time…spray on!