Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Hi BJG,

I've been using Mejiro's shuai brown urushi and thinning in with Grumtine by Grumbacher, it's a limonene based thinner with a lemony smell, you can get at an art supply store. I've had great results. I'm allergic to poison ivy but I haven't had any reaction using the shuai and I've gotten it on my skin. So, it's a roll of the dice on the reaction side, but that's my experience.
What I do is use #1 plastic cups and mix the thinner and urushi to the consistancy of a medium to heavy half and half (coffee creamer) and this can vary of course... I let it sit for awhile.... I use clear or white duct tape to cover the holes and the bottom of the flute, apply pressure around the hole edges too and don't forget the thumb hole like I did once lol, that was an awakening series of moments!!.... Pour the mix into the utaguchi end and slowly raise the flute to just below parallel to the floor and looking into the mouthpiece end (don't put your eye to close start rotating the flute and with the clear or white duct tape it allows for the bore to illuminate a bit to see the urushi bead slowly coming toward you, remember Slowly..... So, you've got the bore totally covered, now hold the flute upright and over a cup pull the tape off the end and let it drain and save and take your time. I use a small brush to paint utaguchi area that didn't get coated.... Take off the tape on the holes, wipe excess off and set the flute upright leaning on the wall in an empty cup to finish draining an hour or two.... Depending on the humidity levels, a couple of days or weeks maybe, but it will dry, also the thinner in the mix helps it to dry quicker, urushi out of the tube will take months to dry......I know this all sounds cumbersome but it works very well for me.