Thread: CA finish with blo. Oil alternatives.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. give it a try.. maybe on a lesser exotic blank just to be on the safe side. One of the members may have already tried another oil so stay tuned.

If you do find one, try the oil alone, then compare the finish you get with the CA/oil combo.

The reason I mention this is that I have tried the BLO/CA finish, and although I know many in USA swear by it, all I get is a rag with CA and a burnished oil finish . Perhaps just my technique is up the creek, but I could never get my head around CA sticking to an oil soaked piece of wood anyway

That's very good advice. I'll try it on some tulip oak. Friday is my next rdo and I'm finishing a coffee table but I'll see if I can at least turn a round and pop some glue on it.

Originally Posted by dai sensei

If you do find one, try the oil alone, then compare the finish you get with the CA/oil combo.

The reason I mention this is that I have tried the BLO/CA finish, and although I know many in USA swear by it, all I get is a rag with CA and a burnished oil finish . Perhaps just my technique is up the creek, but I could never get my head around CA sticking to an oil soaked piece of wood anyway

Hi believe me ca/blo when done right is a great finish! High gloss like a ca only finish but faster and IMHO easier by far to accomplish. If your getting burnished wood then too much oil. Use the smallest drop with a puddle of ca. I'll work on a video tutorial if it would be of benefit to the members. Justin from Sydney.
Btw my father in law uses a light machine oil-you might remember "Singer oil" and finds it quite acceptable. For an example of my finish see the Shiraz Harvest or Roman Harvest in Buckeye posts. J

Thanks. That sounds encouraging. I'll give it a go on Friday or Saturday

Originally Posted by eisbaer

Thanks. That sounds encouraging. I'll give it a go on Friday or Saturday

You can give me a call if you want to and Ill talk you through it before the weekend. I'm in Sydney.
Jus

Here is a video I made on it some years ago and as Justin mentioned , it is just as durable a finish as straight CA but it is much less time consuming and requires no sanding.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orcgOf4siqc"]WoodTurning BLO and CA Pen Finish - YouTube[/ame]

After many personal inquiries as well as on various sites about it I realized I should have emphasized to cut back on the BLO more than I did in the video. Just a tiny drop of CA compared to a 'pudddle' of CA.. All the CA does along with the heat friction is that it accelerates the curing of the CA and no way does it leave an oil finish but a true long lasting CA finish .
Of course like anything else it does take some practice and is obviously not for everyone but once mastered a lot of professional pen makers use it as well as many hobby pen makers.
Whatever finish works best for a person is the one to use.

This is an edit because I neglected to address your original question about using other kinds of oil.
I never have tried another kind but if you find one that works equally well please let us know about .

Ii saw your video when you first produced it and have used this method many times with success on some of my pens. Great video. thanks for sharing with us.

Bill - thanks very much for posting that useful video

Lots of very nice stuff on your webpage too !

Cheers

Hey There,

Just to add my 2 bobs worth,

When I started doing pens a few years ago, this video is the first one I watched and I haven't changed, as stated in the preceding posts, you only need a drop of BLO, I brought a 1 litre bottle and still have 850 mls left and I gave Dad about 30 mls to have a try. I have used about 50 of Davids 50ml bottles of CA and I dont know how many 20 ml ones from Bunnies. The only dramas I had early on was trying to do too many coats too quick, and got white patches, most of my pruduction pens only get about 4 or 5 coats of CA, the High end ones get about 12 -15 depending on the timber.

HazzaB

Thanks for the kind replies and my apology for the poor production of the video.
I believe it was my first attempt at making a utube video . It was just done using a cheap digital camera that I discovered had a video feature

Just curious - is there any benefit in sanding beyond 600 grit or so, i.e. would it reduce the number of coats needed if the surface was smoother to start with?

I've got some samples of abrasives up to 1500 grit, have some CA, I'm sure I have some BLO somewhere.....was going to find a nicely figured lump of wood and give this a go !

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

Just curious - is there any benefit in sanding beyond 600 grit or so, i.e. would it reduce the number of coats needed if the surface was smoother to start with?

I've got some samples of abrasives up to 1500 grit, have some CA, I'm sure I have some BLO somewhere.....was going to find a nicely figured lump of wood and give this a go !

I know a lot of pen turners used to used MicroMesh all the way to 1200 grit.
Seems in recent years many have got away from that (including myself) but if you want to go finer than 600 grit try 0000 steel wool and can even be followed by brown paper as a final burnish. It costs less and does a great job.

Thanks for the post William. I have seen this before and indeed tried the method a few times, but as previously indicated, ended up with a BLO finish not CA.

I might try again with even less BLO to see of that helps.

My CA finishes are quite thick, done by numerous layers, to overcome the differential movements I experience between the various materials I use within a single pen tube. I rarely do just plain wood anymore.

Does your method give a high build thickness filling minor defects like a normal med/thick CA finish? I have looked at other turner's pens using the BLO/CA technique and they don't, the reason why I believed they too only had a BLO finish.

Originally Posted by William Young

I know a lot of pen turners used to used MicroMesh all the way to 1200 grit.
Seems in recent years many have got away from that (including myself) but if you want to go finer than 600 grit try 0000 steel wool and can even be followed by brown paper as a final burnish. It costs less and does a great job.

I find it all depends on the material you are using, and your eyesight . I too only go to 600 these days before the CA on a lot of pens, but sometimes I need to go to 1200 as I can see the sanding marks (and that is also after hand sanding). CA does not hide sanding marks, it often magnifies them. I always check to ensure they are gone before using the CA.

Cheers