Thread: Happy with these...

You say some imperfections, but from here they look nicely finished.

Is it ca finish or sonething else?

Yeah, you need to look pretty closely to see the issues, I'm not sure I could get a photo that showed them if I tried.

The two wooden ones are indeed CA finish, and that's the source of the issues - the burl has the most annoying problem, with what looks like a tiny rough patch between layers of CA. It's small enough that I suspect anyone but a woody would think it's a feature in the wood.

I'm getting a bit fed up with trying to get a CA finish done consistently... I think maybe the time has come to try out Les's WOP dipping method!

I played around with CA on a couple of pens some time back and got quite disillusioned with the crappy finish. Just recently I thought I would make a couple of pens from the kits that I have had for some time. This time I sanded to 600# and applied Ubeaut's Glow. All I can say is ....why use anything else? It goes on easily and quickly and its all over in a few minutes. I reckon the Glow beats just about any other finish

Maybe it's a temperature/humidity issue. I.e. the ca is curing before you have a chance to spread it, or maybe the moisture in the air is giving you grief?

I'm in vic and never had a problem getting a consistent finish.

I have also found a big difference in the brand of ca. I disn't get a nice finish with 'hot stuff' but find 'mirrabella' quite good.

I haven't tried les' dipping method yet, but one day....

Rod, I like the idea of CA (or poly) because I think with pens getting skin oil all over them they need as hard a finish as possible! I do a glow (or aussie oil) finish if it's a pen that either I don't think will see day to day use, or if I think I'll have the opportunity to touch it up when the finish dulls out.

I personally prefer the more natural feel of an oil or wax finish compared to CA, but I do notice when people pick a pen out of my stock the glossy CA ones often go first.

I believe temperature and humidity (and the age of the CA) are the things that give me the most pain Gabriel... So far I've had the best success with 'hot stuff'. But sometimes it goes wrong for no reason I can detect, and it's intensely frustrating!

Couple more from the same batch - stabilised box elder burl from Amos and segmented huon and tassie myrtle:





Apart from a bit of a miss in fitting on one end of the huon and myrtle (had to have two goes at the CA finish and messed up one end in the process), they're a nice set of 5!

Nice work Danny. Some stunning looking pens there mate.

Are they Jr Gent II 's ?

Thanks Brad - yeah, these are all Dayacom Jr Gent IIs from GPW.

I love the metal thread on the visible areas - seems like these are the only option for that in Australia, thinking about ordering some from overseas to get some kits in other colours!

nice looking pens

I don't like ca - I mainly use the rustins two part finish - takes longer to apply but looks good when finished and for years later

recently I made a couple of pens using wop which have been given to friends to 'product test' so far going well after 6 months of almost daily use

I was going to suggest that you try wipe on poly. My method is to apply very thin coats over several days. If I do a batch of pens this method is quite ok, but for one pen it is quite time consuming.

Yeah, I think I'm going to try Les' dipping method with WOP - just need to find some play doh!

Some great looking, well turned and finished timbers.

Les