Thread: Finishes

Roger, Minwax Wipe On Poly ( WOP for short) is sold by Bunnies. Do'n know in how small a quantity.

Other product you might look at are the clear timber and floor finished. Some of these can be had in small(ish) tins.

Roger

Another option is lacquer dipping. Here is a post on my attempts at using lacquer. It also contains a link to Ed Blysard's tutorial on this. I use 3M automotive lacquer I got from Supercheap cut 50/50 with thinners and it does the job. Takes a bit longer than CA or friction polish but does give a nice finish.

cheers
WH

i've heard of people using spray lacquer. don't use it myself, but the results that i have seen are pretty impressive.

Have a look at this:

Minwax Polyurethane Pen Finish Tutorial

Les

Originally Posted by rogerwaskow

Hi my fellow chip and saw dust makers.

I have encountered a few problems. Sorry, thats a fib as I encounter 100's of problems every day which I won't bore you with "YET". I love working burls and recently discovered my JR Victor fountain pen, which I showed a picture of recently as my first fountain pen, had a lovely long crack in the timber and this not from handling but just in the box caressed by eyes only as it has a "do not touch sign above it in the lounge on a pedacil". The wood was dry (as far I know and it felt that way and the dust showed it) and I finished it off with UBeaut friction polish about 3 coats. I had previously fixed another crack before this one after assembly so cracks appear after assembly and not before. I am thinking now that I need a different finish and don't like CA finish. At the moment haven't got much money so Bunnings will have to be my favourite port of call for a while (bloody pensions). Any ideas as to what one could use!!!! as the staff at Bunnings are already looking at me in a funny way with me standing in the glue isle for hours reading instructions. Won't be long and men in blue will be standing beside me. I must admit I have a certain rough (but handsome) look about me in my work clothes.

Please heeeeeelp. Thanks guys and dolls

Roger

Thanks to all of you who gave me tips and advice. Much to my dismay I found a good old crack in a bowtie pen I made last week. I am now going off friction polish and trying other methods. I have not had this cracking problem with other timbers except when I use burl, hard dry wood or in this case, root. Can't figure out what I am doing wrong. Maybe it's the heat of the friction polish. I am lost. Any comments will be welcome as I am now a bit afraid to experiment with costlier pens.

How does one laquer dip. Won't it go into the inside of the brass tube???????

Rogerwaskow ! the most important feature and one which can sometimes be overlooked is the tube and material glueup , with CA for instance it sets hard and a bit brittle ,but with friction polish which generates a lot of heat the CA can actually soften ,with long grained wood and stable woods that is usually ok , burls and crosscuts are less stable and so I always use epoxy to glue them in to the tubes , Also helps to use thin CA during the turning process to penetrate any hairline fractures and weaknesses and help hold things together ,again you have the combined effects of Brass tube and wood expanding and contracting at different rates due to normal atmospheric conditions this can set up stresses also. There is no short answer ,most of my pens face a pretty good test as they are exposed to open air conditions from 6-7 degrees up to about 30 c all in the one day (market stalls ) I used to get cracking of burls and small splits in my early pens ,but rarely see it these days. Another less obvious cause of failure is fittings that are a fraction too tight ,this can cause stress fractures at the ends of pens (nibs finials) it helps to deburr the tubes and properly clean out any glue residue ,sometimes nearly invisible by eye but creates a tighter fit and stress again .All part of the Joys of penmaking hehe, good luck and take care ,cheers ~ John

Roger, assuming the blank was dry; when gluing in the tube
1. Rough up the tube with coarse sandpaper
2. Use Epoxy or Araldite,
3. Apply Epoxy to both the inside of the blank(with a cotton bud) make sure ALL the inside is covered,
4. Apply Epoxy evenly over the Tube and push in the tube with a twisting motion.
5. You probably will have to clean out the excess Epoxy from the inside of the tube--unless you were clever enough to put a Spud in the end to stop too much going in.
6. Even though it is now glued "Good and Proper" , once you get down to the last portion use small cuts with a sharp tool, remember it is a Burl and you don't want to catch on anything at this late stage.
7. When sanding, you have only a thin layer of wood left, especially on the cap end, so beware of HEAT, light sanding and carefully,
8. Friction polish causes MUCH heat-beware, and be carefull, maybe give time to cool between coats?!!
9. Maybe one layer of EEE or Shellawax, then finish with CA, that helps keep it together, or, there is WOP, and some other finishes available- but keep that HEAT on your mind , try to avoid too much of it.
10. Good luck with CA!!!, sometimes it takes some getting use to!!! Amos

Originally Posted by rogerwaskow

How does one laquer dip. Won't it go into the inside of the brass tube???????

Roger

You leave the bushes in place and pass a bolt up through the center. Ideally the head of the bolt and the nut are just smaller than the diameter of the bushes. Tighten the nut down on the whole assembly (but don't over tighten). I then just wrap a bit of wire around the thread end of the bolt to use to dip and then hang. After you have the required amount of coats (and leave plenty of time between coats) you undo the bolt and carefully separate the bushes from the blank with a sharp blade. I haven't had to do anything further to pens I've done this way but if you wanted you could put it back on the mandrel and use some cut and polish to bring it up even more.

cheers
WH

All round very good advice. I have since learnt heaps and heaps as I have learnt another very good lesson. Use the forum and research so spent last night and early early morning reading and re searching. Thanks heaps and never fear. This will be the last crack I will get if I can help it. The next pen to crack will have razor wire around it and hung in the shed as a warning to all other future baby pens in the making not to mess around with Roger and his forum mates.