Thread: CA to polish pens

I think that the trick to successfully pulling off a CA finish is... to use whatever works for you. Everybody seems to do things that little bit differently to each other.

I don't use CA for pens any more (developed an allergy to the stuff) but I found that the best applicator for me was the plastic bags the penkits came in!

Are you applying BLO or an accelerant with the paper? I found that tended to smoke a bit and stopped using accelerants because I could never get quite the same quality of finish as waiting for the coats to dry naturally.

Just curious: why 10 coats? Going for durability? 'Cos if you haven't got a good finish after a mere 2 or 3, then there's something wrong...

CA heating up is normal, especially the thin CA ,as you will no doubt discover the first time you stick your fingers together .On thin CA stay away from accelerators as that will cause whitening and bubbling . Effectively what you are trying to do is fill any grain and seal the wood. The multiple coats are so you have enough to sand back to a smooth surface for polishing . It takes a while to get it perfect every time ,read Neils (dai sensei) post on how he finished his croc jaw pens Once you have enough buildup smooth off any wrinkles in the finish with fine grade steel wool is good for this (0000 grade from Mitre ten and bigger hardwares should have it )don't forget to sand lengthways with the lathe off to remove rings from sanding .once you can not see any shiny bits on the surface then you can wet sand with MM and polish ,sounds a lot but it gets easier with practice and can really lift the levels of your finished work , have fun Cheers ~ John

Originally Posted by gawdelpus

Effectively what you are trying to do is fill any grain and seal the wood.

Using a finish - any finish - as a grain filler?

If the grain/pores are so open that multiple coats are needed to fill the surface, isn't that an indicator that a good (read: clear) NC grain filler should've been used in the first place?

Not stirring the pot, BTW. Well... not much.

I am curious as to why people have moved away from the old approaches to this... "slap more CA on and she'll be right."

Originally Posted by plantagenon

Hi. I have just tried polishing my first pen with CA glue, just a technicality here but lets start you on the road to the right terminologies, it'll help everyone get on the same page to help you better, your using the CA as a sealer and then as a layer built coating, and THEN your sanding and polishing that coating, CA is not a polish in itself. I am using Milylime CA Instant - 1-3 seconds, Yeap, thats the "thin" version we all refer to. I found two problems that you might be able to help me with please, will certainly try to. First, after about 10 costs of CA, bubbles appeared on the blank This i believe is the gasses forming at your base layers coming to the surface, as a result of insufficient cure time between coats. A light sanding left white spots on the blank, yeap coming from the lower levels of the coatings through to the top. I had to sand the blank right back to get rid of them, uhhuh. Is there a particlar way of puttng the CA on to prevent these bubbles happening, yessir, there is, i think if your watching dave's (timberbits) video's he does the coats quite quickly, and that works for him but keep in mind we are in brisbane quite a bit north of him, and allowing for different climates will help, i'm in brissy too and sit and watch the blank spin for a few minutes between my coats, i've found by doing so i get zero bubbles. Secondly, I used paper towel trying to copy a video I watched, If you mean dave's ones, theyre an excellent and almost mandatory source of info. The paper towel heated and began to smoke, yeap, this is normal, heat is given off with most chemical reactions. I tried a different type of paper towel but the samething happened, Yeap, it'll do the same on kleenex as it will with sorbent as it will with kitchen towel. Is this normal, yeap..

As others have mentioned or found, the use of acellerator will produce varying results, this is probably due to the different places we all come from, humidity levels, temperature, time of day etc etc. its about using it as a starting point for your own process, you can follow dave's work closely and modify it to suit you and your own conditions, Pariss up north found a great finish for him was to use kleenex instead of kitchen towel, Skew used plastic baggies, i'm still playing, i think i have everything for me close to right (i dont use acellerator) but i think i need to wait a bit longer between my coats. Sounds like your doing everything right, its just a matter of time to sort out the bugs.

I'm away this coming Saturday, but i'm home and should be turning on Sunday, you'd be more than welcome to come over and see me do a couple, have a coffee n chat, if thats any help to you, i'm in the wynnum / manly area, if your interested just shoot me a PM.

Pehaps us newbies can help each other out and discuss such things like gluing blanks to benches etc etc. Anyway hope this was a help.

Neal.

Thanks for the advice. I did start using Shellawax but I was told that the shine didn't last. I have followed the advice I got and also finish off using Car wax and polish heated by a cloth being hled on the blank. It realyl brings up a shine but wehter it improves on the CA or jsut seals it I don't know. It there an alternative to CA that will holds its fill the timber, bring up a good shine and hold that shine?

Thanks for the invite Neal. I will check with the better half to see if we have anything on Sunday. If not I will take up your offer.

There are guys who use a WOP (wipe on poly) or polyurethane finish, i haven't explored that avenue yet, and others who dip (i'm not sure but i think also a polyurethane). And i'm sure there are more as well.

For me, when i found i could glue (tubes), sanding seal, and protective coat, and layer coat cut back and polish the one product, i was happy to explore it, and now use it. As you know now it can have its issues, its not for everyone, and there can be a complex process involving other products, but when ya get it down its pretty versatile.

Neal.

I didn't have much to do this morning other than to pop down to Bunnings as I am going to try the Minwax WOP as recommended by Les. I thought about having to leave the blanks on mandrel to allow the Minwax to dry and that I would want to use the lathe in the meantime. So I knocked a rough drying box together with a bit of pine, flyscreen, staples and masonry spaghetti. It is rough but it holds all the blanks in place to allow the Minwax or glue on the blanks to dry. I have uploaded a couple of pics.

Didn't read all the posts so if this has been mentioned - sorry.

When I'm not dipping my pens in Waterborne Polyurethane (coats dry in 15 - 20 minutes).

And I do a CA finish I used to use Paper Towels from Scott to Blue shop towels to towels with flowers or whatever was handy like my finger to apply CA.

I use accelerator but in a pump bottle with a real fine mist as I personally don't like the aerosol cans.

I now use nothing but Closed Cell Foam that I tie my flies with for fishing.

Not sure what you folks call it there but women here use it for crafts like scrap booking etc. and is available in a 11" x 18" piece for $1.00

Creatology Craft Foam

I cut roughly into 3/4" (1.905 cm) x 1" (2.54 cm).

Less glue used, can use the same piece over and over again (on 6th pen with same piece) and did I mention that it's really inexpensive.

Negatives: Be careful which end of the foam you pick up. If it's the wet side it will leave little pieces of foam glued to your finger

Thanks

I will try them to see if they will ship to Australia. Its cheap and if its assists in smear avoidance and is reusable I will give it a go.