Thread: Alternative accelerator for CA

Hi Timberbits

I really haven't looked into alternative products at all, butI am definitely with you that it needs to be an aerosol and not a pump.

I'd imagine there are many products on the market that are not too offensive to the olfactory and have a high water content. You've certainly opened people's eyes to the possibility of finding cheap alternatives to accelerator. After all, the results are what counts, and the results you are getting is enough to convince anyone!!

As to what alternatives to Glen 20 there are- I'd be having a walk down the laundry isle- people might like strong smelling (and therefore it must be powerful ) products in the cleaning sections, and especially surface cleaners, but where it comes to laundry, they prefer low perfumed products so they don't smell like a toilet when wearing their clean shirt! These products will also have a high water content, low perfume content, and should work as well as Glen 20.

Well that is my take on the theory anyway!

Originally Posted by timberbits

Hi Stu

Thanks for the information. Like I said Chemistry was not my strongest subject.

Is there a cheaper aerosol on the market place which has a high concentration of water without the perfume? Water from the tap is the cheapest method but I can't get a fine enough mist to stop big chunks of white crystallization on the surface.

You can purchase pump accelerators but again we need a very fine mist otherwise we get the white crystallization on the surface.

Thanks for sharing

Timberbits

Well there's always the wifes "eu de cologne "hehe , but maybe a perfume spray would be fine enough as an atomiser ? safer as well lol. At least the discussion on alternatives should get the subject another look ,all very interesting
cheers ~ John

A really interesting thread. I am off to try, not on pens though, but when filling cracks in bowls where any crystallisation is going to be sanded out. There is NO WAY I am spraying the vodka. Sacrilege. It'll be grange next

Tried it filling cracks in a blank, seemed ok, Amos

Would using water in a small 1L / 2L garden pressure sprayer work?

One of these is what I'm thinking of; Small Pressure Sprayers

I know they can get a quite fine mist, and bunnies has t hem for about 10 bucks usually.

Maybe you would get finer spray if you broke the surface tension of the water? Added soap or glycerine or something? Bit of dish washing liquide in the water?

OK, I have just finished turning a She Oak Slimline pencil, did my usual 20 coates of CA, but used Glen 20 as an accelerator. YUCK !!!.. Every layer of CA I MM'ed through, had loads white scratchy looking crystals all over it. I ended up having to re-turn the blanks back to bare wood. The crystals were all the way through every layer from #1 to #20 layer. I ended up finishing the pencil off with EEE then Shellawax, & Traditional wax. Don't know how the Glen 20 worked for David ?. Think I'll stick with Mitrefix.

Don't think I fancy misting water around the lathe. Rust is a big enough problem as it is.

Originally Posted by Pariss

OK, I have just finished turning a She Oak Slimline pencil, did my usual 20 coates of CA, but used Glen 20 as an accelerator. YUCK !!!.. Every layer of CA I MM'ed through, had loads white scratchy looking crystals all over it. I ended up having to re-turn the blanks back to bare wood. The crystals were all the way through every layer from #1 to #20 layer. I ended up finishing the pencil off with EEE then Shellawax, & Traditional wax. Don't know how the Glen 20 worked for David ?. Think I'll stick with Mitrefix.

I was pretty sure I could see frosting on each coat in Davids' video particularly to his right, but video resolution on these Youtube videos is pretty average.

I was told at one stage to use spray on deodorant, it gave similar results (stopped my pen from sweating though, or should I say perspiring?)

i ordered a few things from david today but he never had glen 20 on his site so i had to walk over the road and get some just to give it a try .

johno

Originally Posted by texx

i ordered a few things from david today but he never had glen 20 on his site so i had to walk over the road and get some just to give it a try .

johno

Hope you have better luck than me !. My attempt to substitute Glen 20 for Mitrefix was a frosty flop, ha ha. Keep us posted eh !.

Someone mentioned a few posts back that ethanol might work.

I didn't have any ethanol in a spray pack, but I had some isopropyl alcohol in a pump action mist bottle, so i tried it. I put some CA on the back of a piece of sandpaper, attached it to another piece of sandpaper and sprayed it with the Isoprpyl. It stopped the CA from working entirely, in fact it got slippery and nothing stuck.

A little bit of reading told me that I should have known that.

Anyhooo, ethanol may still work, worth a try. Isopropyl alcohol might be very convenient for all those times that I get CA in all the wrong places.

Hi Pariss,
Just a guess on my part, but maybe TB is using a different CA Glue.
I asked a couple Questions, but there has been no Reply so far.
I dare say you watched the Video. He used very little Glen20.
My Baking Soda & Water works well for me.

Originally Posted by Pariss

OK, I have just finished turning a She Oak Slimline pencil, did my usual 20 coates of CA, but used Glen 20 as an accelerator. YUCK !!!.. Every layer of CA I MM'ed through, had loads white scratchy looking crystals all over it. I ended up having to re-turn the blanks back to bare wood. The crystals were all the way through every layer from #1 to #20 layer. I ended up finishing the pencil off with EEE then Shellawax, & Traditional wax. Don't know how the Glen 20 worked for David ?. Think I'll stick with Mitrefix.

Don't stop and MM each layer, keep going all the way through to 20 then MM. Use small amounts of Glen 20, it will go a bit white, but with each new layer of CA - it takes the previous layers of white crystal away.

Originally Posted by MrPete

Would using water in a small 1L / 2L garden pressure sprayer work?

I know they can get a quite fine mist, and bunnies has t hem for about 10 bucks usually.

Tried it, won't work. Mist is not fine enough.

Originally Posted by Big Shed

I was pretty sure I could see frosting on each coat in Davids' video particularly to his right, but video resolution on these Youtube videos is pretty average.

I was told at one stage to use spray on deodorant, it gave similar results (stopped my pen from sweating though, or should I say perspiring?)

Yes there was frosting on each coat.

Deodorant seems to be more expensive than Glen 20 (also a smaller bottle). We want cheaper not more expensive.

I have tried "Crisp" and "Iron Aid". this is iron on starch to make your shirts stiff as cardboard. The atomisation is not fine enough, you end up with the dreaded white specks through the blank.