A painter in Fresno showed me his 20 year old mixing stick and it made me rethink my whole setup

Holly Craig · 2026-10-16T23:00:05.140682+00:00

I was at a shop in Fresno picking up a fender last Tuesday and this older painter named Ray was mixing a batch of sealer with a wooden stick that was stained every color of the rainbow, worn down to like half its original width. He caught me staring and just said the stick remembers every mix better than any chart on the wall. I laughed at first but then he walked me through how he reads the stain layers to know if his ratio is off before he even sprays a test panel. I've been using a plastic stir stick from the paint store this whole time and never once thought about what a worn in one could tell me. Anyone else out there got a beat up tool that actually teaches you something?

🐿️Pinecone Attack

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A painter in Fresno showed me his 20 year old mixing stick and it made me rethink my whole setup | Auto Body Repairers - Pinecone Attack