Honestly ive just been playing around with it. I also read 1" per minute and started there. That leaves a VERY thin coat. I sped up to 4" per minute on the second coat, and that was more to my liking. In the future i will most likely do 2x 4" per min coats and then a final 1" per minute. I made sure to take looooong pauses on each guide. So drips and runs were a non issue. Hope that helps