Thread: Glen 20 vs Mitre Fix Sierra's

Originally Posted by plantagenon

I'll give the Glen 20 a go. From the video it seems the frosty finish clears totally when the MM is applied.

Good luck with it. Please post pics of you good /bad results.

I gave the Glen20 another go this afternoon.
I had better results this time. After watching the video again, and reading Davids comments, I tried moving the paper towel a lot slower than the first time, I could see the frosting dissapear as I went.
I held the can a lot further away as well, about 800mm ( with the dust extractor hose right behind the blank, it sucks it straight past the blank ) I just gave it one short burst.
I also went back to the normal speed I do my finishing at, 1800rpm, works for me .

OK I tried David's new Glen 20 following the instructions carefully and I finally managed to get success in one pen. However, the CA was put on too thick and I will have to sand back anyway as I got a few ridges . I think this time I was too light handed in applying the CA and it went on too thick whereas my previous drama was that I was too heavy handed and the MM cut through the thinly coated CA . Just my style that I have to perfect yet

Where I ran into problems was using a thick CA to fill the ruts in the timber and then using Glen 20. It resulted in a white streaky finish that could not be removed with the next coat (that's the multi timber blank in the photo I made up using off cuts from blanks).

When I used thin CA only (that I bought from David) it worked well on the final pen (photo of the one on the mandrel) but only after I sprayed it from a distance of around a metre.

End result = all blanks will have to be sanded back to timber.

Future outcome = Getting very sick of CA and I will try the PPG lacquer or simply go back to the ultra-slow WOP which gives a mirror finish but requires very fine sanding.

OK - Here is my latest efforts with CA and Glen 20. The timber I used is Eastern Red Cedar from the US. The Glen 20 does not give as smooth a finish as the spray fix which is more expensive. In fact in this round I have found that the timber has stained and I have white spot. If these blanks were human legs, a doctor would be treating them for tropical ulcers. My conclusion - I will throw out these blanks, start again with spare tubes and use Mitre fix as it does the job that I cannot achieve like David with Glen 20. Obviously there is a precis technique to use with Glen 20 that I cannot achieve.

So is the jury still out on this or has a verdict been reached.?

My verdict

I spent hours making a blanks from a variety of timbers only to use CA to glue the tube in as I wanted a fast turning and then only to have the bloody CA dry before I could get the tube in. Very, very annoyed From here on in its Sika poly glue for gluing tubes into blanks for me even though it takes longer.

As for the Glen 20 - it can stay in the bathroom. I will use Mitre Fix if I ever use CA again. I have dipped one blank in PPG mixed with thinners and will see how it turns out. After the initial coat its looks ok but there are a lot more coats to go. Time and Patience is the criteria for this guy.

Yeah, I think we have all had that bugger of a problem when using thick CA to set the tubes into the blank. It depends alot on the type of timber & it's moisture content, as the slightest bit of moisture will act as an activator and kick off the CA before you get your tube half way in !.