Finally getting somewhere with my CA finish

[MarkY]

Thanks to the help of IAP comments tutorial's, comments, and encouragement, I've made a big step forward with my CA finish. Not perfect yet but I'm happy to have a little progress. Until not my finish had been nice but matte. I liked it in some cases but it's great to have a gloss option now.
The sad thing is that I don't really know what made the difference, there was a number on minor changes but I thing the big one was using some decent thin CA from woodenwonders (thanks Monty)

 

[JamesB]

That's good. I can get an acceptable finish on 1 out of 5 pens maybe. I'm still working on it too. I have a piece of dowel I'm going to practice on.

 

[Akula]

don't give up, there will be the Ah Ha moment and it's simple after that magic moment


like most things, it's not hard if you keep trying for yourself

the only real limits are the ones you put on yourself

Ok, I'm out of things to say

 

[keithbyrd]

Don't get discouraged - it took me a while and I wondered if I was going to get it or not. tried different techniques and think I have come up with one that works for me. Haven't messed one up in a while!

 

[booney0717]

Thats a good finish. It took me a while to get my ca finishes right also. lots of frustration. The break through for me was slowing down my lathe and i use thin ca to start just a few coats then a few coats of med. and back to a few more coats of thin. then mm to 12000 and polish. but every body does it differently. ya just gotta fine what works for you. you tube and the helpfull hints from every body here helped me a ton. just never give up.

 

[BSea]

Here are a few things that really helped my CA finish.

Sand to 600 before using MM. If it's a darker blank, I might go to 1000.

Don't put too much pressure on the MM. And let it build up a slight slurry on each grit.

Always Always Always stop the lathe & sand the length of the barrel, and wipe off any residue before going to the next grit. This includes sandpaper. Otherwise, you'll never get all the scratches out.

 

[flippedcracker]

I'm still hit or miss. But I find that using thick ca helps. I do blo/ca. When I try just straight ca, it always gets messed up. and I'm still having a little trouble on the ends of the blanks.