Let it be known that the airbrush included in my kit is a very cheap one. Ever been to Harbor Freight Tools? They sell cheap tools, mostly made in China. The paperwork for the airbrush in the kit bears the Harbor Freight (HF) name, and incidentally, this same airbrush was advertised on the HF website for $7.99 at press time.
I'm not slamming Harbor Freight, but I want my readers to know what they're getting for their money if they buy the B-C Perma Fin kit. You might be better off to buy a good airbrush separately if you don't already have one, then buy a box of disposable gloves and a bottle of Perma Fin. In the end you'll probably be better prepared than if you had bought the B-C kit, which only comes with two gloves. I used many gloves during this project.
I should add that the B-C Perma Fin kit also comes with one abrasive pad (think Scotch-Brite).
At this stage, I hung the parts from an eight-foot stepladder in my shop, using wires. I degreased them while wearing disposable gloves, to keep from touching them with my skin, which would contaminate them with oil. Then I started spraying on the finish.
The first coat went on like almost nothing, providing a transparent finish with a slight tinge of gray. Hmmm. Subsequent coats weren't much better. After four coats I barely had any color on the parts, and decided that perhaps I should shake up the Perma Fin more thoroughly. This I did, and coat five provided a better finish, but on most parts it was still transparent in good light.
I believe the part in the photo (lower tang) has one coat on it.
At this point I took a break from the project and contacted Birchwood-Casey, and learned that Perma Fin requires at least two full minutes of shaking before it's applied. This is not intuitive, because the liquid is black at all times, and didn't provide me with visual clues to indicate how well it was (or was not) mixed.
It was several weeks before I was able to get back into the project, and when I did I found that only the lower tang had an acceptable finish. All other parts were degreased and re-sprayed with Perma Fin. An additional two coats finished them up.