Hammerite Smooth Not Setting

[Joules]

I am using a tin of the copper coloured stuff in the casting of the little knee mill to bind all the loose sand and dross together.  Painted yesterday late afternoon, not dried this morning 

Answer :-  Hit the casting with the heat gun and get the paint smelling strongly, drive out the solvents and it will kick start the cure.  I have the base and column wrapped in a blanket sat on a home brewing heat pad to get the whole casting to 30 ℃ and cure that over the next 24hrs.   Hammerite, not like it used to be and now available in pastel colours 

[Pakrattuk]

You're right about it being different formula, had two lots of silver hammered finish and thought I'll use up the old tin before using the new and when it came to using the new stuff, it curdled where it met the old stuff.
 

[Joules]

As an alternative, I have had good results from Blackfriars QD90, though I see they have changed the name, but hopefully not the formula.

[tom osselton]

I just looked at the Hammerite site there are no outlets in North America! Has anyone informed them of the new world? 

[Manxmodder]

You're right about it being different formula, had two lots of silver hammered finish and thought I'll use up the old tin before using the new and when it came to using the new stuff, it curdled where it met the old stuff.
 

Sounds very much like the sort of reaction you see if high flash solvent based paint meets with synthetic enamel.

I note a couple of previous comments here indicate that the formula seems to have changed. This could be to meet with the environmental trend towards decreasing the amount of volatile organic compounds(VOC's) in modern paint formulas......OZ.

EDIT TO ADD: Does anyone remember using Finnegan's Brown Velvet Primer? Many years have passed since I last saw that for sale.

[Will_D]

EDIT TO ADD: Does anyone remember using Finnegan's Brown Velvet Primer? Many years have passed since I last saw that for sale.

Yep, when I was restoring/building kitcars in the 80s, Brown Velvet was a weapon of choice!

Painting regime for non body work items like castings/anti roll bars/wishbones/etc:

Sandblast

 2 Coats of Brown Velvet brushed

2 Coats of Hamerite Colour

[Fergus OMore]

I've sort of replied earlier on MECH. I recall that there was a connection with Resinous Chemicals in Dunston, Tyne and Wear. Part of British Paints in the 50's. Whether 'Scotty' had worked for RCL earlier, I have to guess but I bought Hammerite and Waxoyl up the river Tyne at Mickley out of a humble garage.  As far as my memory is concerned, Hammerite was a rubber based wrinkle finish and the solvent /thinners was carbon tetrachloride which could be the accepted cleaner for oil stained clothing.

40 years ago( long before all this) I took Hammerite to Spain to do rusty garden furniture. Frankly, it fell off!

Later, the firm went to Haltwhistle- scene of Smith and Waltons Paints but the firm was called Hunting which made de-icing equipment as well.

So my conclusion is that 'Hammerite' is a generic name that had to change as the earlier risks from paints and plastics became known.

[Will_D]

Seem to remember that Hammerite used a particular thinner/cleaner.

As did Brown Velvet!

None were as comples as the "International" brand of Yacht paints/varnishes/2 pack paints!

I think they listed up to 9 different thinners and as there was the "hello sailor" factor they were NOT cheap!

Great quality but you were getting what you paid for (in spades)

[awemawson]

I think that it was toluene originally.

[nrml]

I've stopped using Hammerite for the same reason. I now use POR15 Grey for painting machines. It is a little bit more expensive, but a little goes a long way. It self levels beautifully and you get excellent results just daubing it onto bare metal with cheap pound store brushes. It doesn't flake or chip off at all and it doesn't fade in indoor environments either.

It makes sense to buy the smallest pack you can for the job in hand as it doesn't keep very well once opened. The only thing to watch out for is to make sure that there is no water left on the object being painted from cleaning. It bubbles up if there is any dampness left. I found this out the hard way.

[Manxmodder]

I think that it was toluene originally.

I tend to agree with Norman's earlier suggestion of the thinner being carbon tet based.

Toluene rich solvent tends to smell sweet like pear drops and is frequently used for 2k paints and clear lacquers. The original Hammerite stuff had a far more pungent smell a bit like a cat pee sort of odour.
.....OZ

[awemawson]

In my youth Hammerite was made by Finnegan Speciality Paints - they had a tiny London Office on the West side of Edgeware Road just North of Smiths the electronics surplus shop. No doubt the actual manufacture was either elsewhere or contracted out.

I'm pretty sure that in those days the solvent was toluene. No doubt ownership has changed several times since then

[Fergus OMore]

Andrew
             I'm a local to  Northumberland and Durham having been born only 5 miles from Mickley where I bought both Waxoyl and Hammerite.  Somehow I doubt that date that the local Hexham Courant put the garage in 1962 is somewhat wrong. I would have put it in the late 1950's. Hammerite was suggested as originally  a rubber based electrical  and we could both be right about CTC and 'tollie'as one or some of the major solvents.  I recall at about the same time we were using silver rubber paint on both Tyne and Klepper folding canoes. Incidentally, RCL- part of then British Paints formerly Dampney's was making resin both normal and fireproof stuff for ship's lifeboats on the Tyne. Again, RCL was modifying epicote resins for bar topping and also Rolls Royce. I could do with a tin or two now!
Laughingly, there is a friends of RCL listed but I wonder if there were any survivors with free Thallic Anyhydride and M aleic Anhydride coming off the gas kettles. They were also modifying resins for abrasive wheels.

Oddly enough, I went to school with one of chemists and odder still, appear to be a  substantial shareholder with survivors of these past companies.

I'd sort of forgotten most of this.

Mickley- I recall the toilets on the opposite side of the main road to the houses and the Cosy cinema became a masonic hall and another school mate- but I digress 

I wonder what happened to my 1935 Morris 8- CBB367

Norman

[S. Heslop]

My grandad used to be friendly with the guy that developed Hammerite. Supposedly he developed the brush on hammer finish paint for a company he worked at, but they weren't too interested in it since it mostly had applications for hobbyists and they weren't in that market. So he went and set his own company up which was a huge success. He and my grandad had a bit of a brainstorming session on names for the company and my grandad came up with the name Hammerite.

I'll have to ask him for more details since I only half remember the story.

[Fergus OMore]

Somehow, RCL was up to the ears in work after the war. The gas and steam resin kettles were working 24/7 and no one was terribly bothered to find that someone had done something other than chuck in a test tube full of silicones thinned with carbon tetra chloride.
British Paints, if I recall, was doing rather well with factories in India and Australia as well as Portland Road!

It doesn't bring back a solution( pun intended) to thin a gooey mess but heigh ho. You have some of the old story.

And, of course, one could dodge National Service by going to India! Just testing the remains of a memory.