Thread: Couple of firsts

CA can be a real bugger to get right.....but once you find your groove, it generally (sometimes it still doesn't play ball) is a great finish.
One step I recently added to my CA finish is to wet sand with 600 (wet and dry) before starting the micromesh. I found this step got rid of any larger ridges. Are you using thin or medium CA?

One other thing to note - a straight acrylic or resin blank generally doesn't actually require CA and you could just micromesh and polish the blank after sanding .....
But that wasn't the object of the exercise I understand....

Ripper job on the first acrylic! The pen bug will only get worse from here!!

Good stuff Gary.
Its hard to deny that the resins/plastics look good on a pen, the better halves seem to like the colourful stuff.
As Gab said, normally there’s no need to put a finish on the resin blanks, just sand and polish.
I’ll give you another tip. Many resin blanks need to be back painted to stop the brass tube from showing through. I use either my wife’s artist acrylic applied with a Qtip, or some rattle can epoxy, it means adding another day into the process for the paint to dry, but well worth the trouble.

Good to see you are expanding your horizons. What did you think of the mess on and around your lathe from the acrylic compared to solid wood? Those white shavings stick to everything!.

There is a huge variety of acrylic and resin blanks available, plus the 'cast your own' variety. Your journey has only just started!

Alan...

Yes, Uncle Al, the white shavings are a menace - I reckon I must have enough static electricity to solve the energy crisis, the way the stuff was sticking to me! I do prefer the wood shavings; they look good and smell better (especially when using Camphor Laurel).

Gabriel, I used thin Mercury CA (couldn't get the brand that Ironwood recommended), but it wasn't the glue - it was the operator. And thanks for the advice from you and Ironwood that CA is not necessary on acrylic blanks. I did another today, just sanded and polished, and am really happy with the finish. It proved two things: (1) the advice from you two was spot on, and (2) my sanding and micro meshing was ok, the problem was in the application of the C A. So more practice is essential. And yes, Brad, I did paint the tubes before glueing them - thanks for the tip. And here's my CA free effort, using Turtle Wax car polish, as that's all I had.

2019 06 Acrylic2b DSC_0290_tn.jpg

i think it looks great! My desire with resin is that there is always some wood in there wood is where its at

Your finish on that Cigar looks real good Gary.

Coming along nicely especially the finish on the blue one. I was surprised when reading the first post and you said you used CA on it. That is one of the benefits (and I think the only one) is you don't need to put any finish on acrylics. I am not a fan of turning acrylics due to the mess they make and how hard the material is to turn.
I use the same finishing technique whether it be acrylic or CA by getting the finish as smooth as possible before going through the micromesh pads, then Brasso and finally Meguiars Plastix polish both applied with a rag and it gives a mirror finish.

Thanks, Treecycle. Ironwood's advice on applying CA was in reference to timber pens. but I had been "stalling" on both acrylic blanks and CA so decided to get it off my chest by doing both at once. Thinking back, I should have realised that CA would not soak into acrylic and that's my excuse for the poor finish .

But at least I have now tried both and don't feel guilty any more. Next step is to try CA on one of my timber pens and that will be another first! And I'll give the Brasso a whirl while I'm at it.

Cheers, Gary

I know it's a bit late to chime in, but acrylics don't need a finish, just sand and micro mesh only, maybe a car polish to finish off with but I never have. There are a few that don't need to be painting, and if your going for the Sierra you can actually buy pre-paired white tubes. Not only that, fun smiths sell a blackening agent to do your tubes with.

as for CA finish, Gab has been a great help for me in the past with his advice. If you have a scroll chuck, why not throw a piece in there turn it round into a pen size shape and practice on that. My issues were going too long on the lower grit micro mesh to take the ridges out, and I would end up cutting it almost all the way back to bare wood, so would have to start again. The application technique is my downfall, I end up with ridges. On a recent turning, I was too scared to go too long on the lower grits to take the ridges out that when I finished it was perfect except for the small ridges, but they work well as it feels like the ridges in the grain (pure luck).