Thread: C.A. coating

Yes, you do turn down below the bushings. Usually I try to turn about .002" under the bushing size. Then you build up with CA.

I measure the pen hardware, and take the blank down .1mm ( 4thou ) diameter undersize. This means you will have to build it up with .05mm ( 2 thou ) of CA to get back to the hardware size, but I go more than this.
I aim to have my finished blank .1mm diameter oversize after sanding and polishing, this feels about right to me. There is nothing worse than having the blank sitting under the hardware. Being too much over isnt good either.
Any more than .2mm over starts to get noticeable.

I find if you are just a little oversize ( .1mm, or no more than .2mm), and very lightly round the corners with some 1200 W&D, the finished pen feels good in the hand.

Dave Bell (Bellsy on the forum) has a couple of excellent videos on this subject and well worth watching, personnally I think the man is a legend and have adopted several of his techniques in my pen making endeavours.

Even 20 coats of thin CA properly applied should not build up the diameter of the pen too much. MM will cut them back a bit. Are you using bushes to turn the timber or just turning between centres?

could you please post up a link to bellsy's thread as ive done a search and didnt come up with anything
cheers brad