Thread: Polishing question

Hi. What are you using to do you final sanding of the CA finish ?. Your pen looks pretty good to me from the photo . I use Micro Mesh pads, dipped into a container of water / wet sanded to 12000, then Brasso to get a mirror gloss, then Maguires Speed glaze to get an even more perfect gloss.
https://www.timberbits.com/micro-mes...ouch-pads.html

G'day Pariss,

After I saw your thread with the sassafras pen in those pen boxes you made, I tried using the CA glue to see if I could get a shine on the pen, that I was doing.

Photo 1. shows the white bubbles, so I then sanded it back to get rid of them and put some more CA on over the top. I was getting a bit sick of sanding the pen by then and was pretty disheartened, as the vids all show about 15 mins - 30 mins and by now it is about 2 hours down the track.

I put the CA back over the top, it got sanded with 1200 wet and dry, and the micromesh, and buffed it with a rag.

It looked shiny so I thought I am not touching anything or doing anything in case I muck it up, so left it alone after that

Ady

Originally Posted by Adynaton

I do have one question. Should I dust off between sandings to remove the dust as they don't seem to do it on the videos?

Hi Ady, that pen looks pretty good now.

I always dust off betwween sanding grits, lately, I have been using the compressor to blow the blank clean between grits, I also blow the sandpaper to get all the loose stuff off before I use it, I think this has improved the quality of finish I am getting now.

Mastering the CA finish can be a frustrating experience, it took me a long time, and many ruined blanks until I could get it right most times. I still have a bad run at times, and have to go back to the basics to try and figure out what is going wrong.

When I was starting out with CA, I just turned some wood round on the lathe, and practiced putting the CA on them, saves ruining good blanks that way.

Good luck with it.

G'day All,

Gee I'm a nuisance.

I have just tried making another pen, with a different blank.

The pen must be religious, because as I have turned it down it has become all holey. It looked solid to start off with.

Can you rescue these pens or do you have to throw away the blanks and start again.


Ady

Ady .almost all blanks are repairable ,holes can be filled with various mixtures,such as ground coffee and epoxy ,saved fine shavings from such woods as ebony etc, ,depending on just how much you need to fill whether you try and disguise or blend with the original or make some kind of feature from the fillings ,generally after some repairs it may be wise to use a ca finish to even out the surface finish ,only the imagination determines how you repair anything I have used colored wood putty at times ,worked well hehe ,good luck don't throw them away, if you are not sure put them aside for a time when you can attack them with confidence , cheers ~ John

G'day John,

Thanks for the info. Not sure about sharing my coffee with a pen blank but if it works ...

I thought I'd give you a look at what I found in one blank, and I haven't dusted it off so you can see the line better. It looks like I have gouged the "hades" out if it.

I also thought I might put up a couple of pens I have completed, so you know it is not all bad

Ady

Some timbers are like that , I always apply thin CA as soon as I see that sort of thing as it may be a weakness and cause grief a bit down the track ,usually when you least expect it . That can be the sort of thing that can cause a "blowout" ,should come up nice as a feature in the end though cheers ~ John

G'Day all,

Just a question. I had this here lump of wood, which has been turned down to make the pen in the attached photos but I have no idea what the wood is., and of course someone wants to know. It has come up pretty good I reckon.

Is there any one who can help me identify it?

Thanks in advance

Ady

G'day all,

Here is a photo or two of the lump of timber that the last pen was made from.
Thought it might be better to show the original timber rather than the shiny completed one.

Any ideas on what it is?

Ady

Could be "spalted sasafrass ' or mybe Tallow wood cheers ~ John

Thanks John,

I don't think it is the Spalted Sassafras, because I have turned a bit of that [a gift from a close mate] and it seemed to be softer than this wood, however the markings appear to be the similar. Will see what I can find about tallow wood

Ady

G'day John,

The more I look the more I think it is not Tallowwood, I think it is spalted Sassafras. The other lot I had was very very soft, but this is harder. Any advice on what to tell a customer, when I don't know what the timber is?

Ady

Honesty is best .if you don't know that's not a big deal just give it your best guess, and explain that sometimes you get unlabelled timbers in swaps and things ,never lost a sale because I didn't know the timber ,and I have heaps of unknowns lol. Some call them "wazzatree" lol. I still think sasafrass is a safe bet ,more greyish than browns from memory .Turns nicely and takes a good finish without a lot of effort . Cheers ~ John