What happen to the paints during summer? Temperature is one of the biggest threats to paints in general, and in particular for water-based paints. Especially when using very dense paints with a high viscosity it is easy to notice changes in their characteristics related to temperature. Previously we have already talked about what can happen during the winter months, in our previous post: How Low Temperature Could Affect Leather Edge Paint.
During summer the opposite problem can arise: the water-based leather edge paints stored at temperatures above 25 °C ( 77 °F) can start to take on a more watery appearance, it’s easy to find themselves in these situations during the hot season.
Another even more serious problem related to higher temperatures is, bacterial activity. In fact, summer temperatures make the environment more conducive to the proliferation of bacteria, as happens with food and fruit (in summer they can easily be ruined if left out of the refrigerator) so it can also happen to water-based paints especially if the bottles are left opened.
Viscosity is an important feature of the leather edge dye because it improves its applicability both by hand and especially by machine. Therefore, finding yourself working with a suboptimal viscosity can however jeopardize the final quality of the result, which strongly depends on the application process. Even if the high temperatures do not affect the technical characteristics, such as, adhesion, elasticity, resistance, etc. you may have difficulties in the application phase to achieve the best result.
How to restore the original viscosity? Pretty easy! Since it depends mainly on temperature, lowering the paint temperature will restore the initial viscosity.
For hobbyists and small leather crafters it will be enough to put the bottles in the refrigerator for a few hours and you will get again the ideal viscosity for the application, while this solution for the industry is more difficult to achieve.
But be careful! We recommend, refrigerator not freezer. Doing this to speed up time is very risky, because if the paint starts the process of crystallization, its molecule will lose its original structure, and this physical change (as opposed to the heat) can no longer be restored.
Enjoy Summer!
