Thread: Cloudy finish but only on ends of blanks

Originally Posted by Tiger

The photo is not the best as it's taken off the mobile phone but you'll see a small band of what now looks like torn end grain right near the end cap of the pen.

Bit hard to see from photo, looks more like you have sanded through the CA on the edge of the radius, but could be just my eyes

Originally Posted by dai sensei

Bit hard to see from photo, looks more like you have sanded through the CA on the edge of the radius, but could be just my eyes

Yeah it does look a little like that but I've had another look at it and would describe the appearance similar to thin wax that hasn't melted into the timber, it looks superficial and is not really cloudy but dull.

When this happens to me it forms in a circular band. Hard to believe I'm sanding through as everything looks fine when I'm working through the MM, it's when I reach the 12000 MM and wipe the water off that it starts to appear .

Tiger. As Neil said it is a bit hard to see it from the photo but it looks to me as though the CA is lifting at that point. But it is hard to tell. If you are putting wax on the bushes it might be getting onto the blank and this might be preventing the CA from getting into the wood at that point. Try delrin bushes to apply the CA with after you have sanded. You won't need the wax and the delrin won't stick to the blank. More importantly because the delrin fits inside the tube the ends of your blank will get a coating of CA as you apply it and therefore the CA won't lift. If you can't make the delrin bushes yourself then look athe US website for them and buy a set at around $10. There are brilliant and I haven't has a stuck bush to tube since I have been using them. They are also good for the MM as again the delrin is inside the tube and not locked onto the end of the blank.

Originally Posted by dai sensei

Bit hard to see from photo, looks more like you have sanded through the CA on the edge of the radius, but could be just my eyes

Thanks Neil, I think your eyes are pretty good. I hadn't considered that I had oversanded because the problem was always at the end and not always the same end of the blanks. So I tried another pen today and got the same result, one end of the blank was affected. So I lightly sanded the problem blank and reapplied the CA and made sure that both ends got plenty of CA, then sanded with MM and applied the usual polish, this time no dull spot. Suspect that I didn't have enough CA on the blank, a lot of the CA is absorbed into the paper towel.

Plantagenon, I made up some bushes out of that plastic cutting board, I found that I deformed them when I did up the knurled nut on my mandrel. I couldn't get the blanks to stop spinning unless I did up the nut very tight, may have to make up some more as I want to be able to rule out the wax being a problem.

From over the pond it seems you sanded through. I have been guilty of that ohhh so many times.

Originally Posted by Tiger

Thanks JT. I do wet sand and I also put wax on the bushings so as to separate them from the blank easily. It's all a bit of a mystery because the rest of the blank is fine. I would think the end of the blank was coated in CA when you apply your finish.

No not at all. If you are using bushings they butt against the material real well.

Sanding through the finish is very common, especially when the coating is thin, like you get using thin CA. A lot of people use a wax coating when final finishing their CA coatings, which covers up those little discretions, but wears off eventually exposing them. Not a good thing when your customers are regular.

Thanks everyone for your advice.

Neil and Justturnin' I don't feel so bad now that I hear it's common to go through the CA finish but it does make sense because when I look at the paper towel I see a lot of the residue on there. I wish I'd known about that cheat with the wax covering the worn finish, might have saved a few pens from being thrown out .

I knew it, I knew it, I knew it.

The first pen I made after reading this has white marks in it.

I remember the person that had the tubes come free while turning, Yep first pen after reading that came away from tubes. Never had one do it since.

I'm hoping this will be the only one with white marks as well.

Now Its cold today and I breathed on it to help set it off. It seems to be where the CA was just that bit thicker.

The forum Jinxed me again..... Someone better not do anything stupid for a while now cos I don't want it.....

Peter

Peter, workshop temperature and humidity levels can seriously affect the quality of a CA finish, it's one of the reasons why people can get great results with a particular method and another user with precisely the same method can have different results. The weather is very cold today and that would have affected your finish. I find when the weather is cold that I have to wait longer between coats and the accelerator doesn't work quite as well. Yesterday when we had a warmer day temperature wise I couldn't do much wrong with my finish. I may try this evening to see what happens.

BTW I love the way CA goes no with the craft foam, it does take some getting used to but it seems to fly on the blank and you don't need as many coats as with paper towels.

Great Tiger,

Glad you like the craft foam, and you don't need a new piece each time. It also uses less CA as it doesn't soak in.
The pump on my accel doesn't work so I had to wait between coats, Thats why I was breathing on it to give it some warmth and humidity.

What I did with my last few was rub clean craft foam against the blank to warm it a bit so when I put the CA on it was a warmer surface. Also tried rubbing with my fingers between coats to warm it, Maybe that caused the white..

Peter

From what I've read about craft foam some users use the same piece but some advise to clean it b/w applications as that's suppose to give a smoother finish, I'm still experimenting to see if it has any effect.

I would say that rubbing the CA is probably causing the white marks because oil comes off the hand and oil prevents the CA from curing properly. If you have no accelerator you can give Glen 20 a go but in tiny doses, bear in mind though that when it's this cold that too will take a little longer to work. It is the coldest time of the year and I haven't tried it yet but maybe warming up the workshop might help.