That's spread out over several days. I've got two pieces of plywood, roughly 2' X 2', each with 50 3" screws driven through from the bottom. I've got 25 pieces of 8" allthread terminating in a small wood block, with an Eyescrew on the other side. Row of 25 cuphooks mounted to the underside of one of my upper set of cabinets. I've got the lacquer thinned with between 25% to 30% lacquer thinner, so it flows a little smoother, drys quicker, and builds up a thinner coat each time. Load the barrel, with bushings still in place, on the allthread and it's ready for a quick dip. Hangs from the cuphook for 45 minutes. Cured enough at that point to be moved to the plywood. 6 to 8 hours later, light buff and back on the allthread, rotated 180 degrees, for second dip. Rotate to the plywood holder again after 45 minutes, if smooth enough to not need second buff, dip again after 4 hours (rotated 180 degrees again), wait at least 8 hours, quick micromesh from 3200 through 12000, and ready to assemble. A picture of 50 Irish Bog Oak uppers for Barons, curing on the plywood base, is in my photo album if you're interested. In between dippings, keep on Cutting, drilling, gluing, and turning! Spreads it out over a two to three day process, but still nets out to just under 2 minutes per pen spent on the finishing part. Also helps that I've got 20 to 25 sets of bushings for the most frequent pens I do- Barons, Cigars, Sierras, and Jr. Gent/Statesman vII's.
Originally posted by TBone
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Originally posted by lwalden
<br />I've set up to be able to dip up to 24 halves (individual barrels) in sequence, so when I'm doing a production run (normally 20 to 50 pens), my average time for lacquer dip finishing, (1st coat, buff, 2nd coat, buff if needed, 3rd coat, and micromesh) is under 2 minutes per pen.
WOW I knew lacquer dried quick but didn't realize it was that quick. What do you use to keep the lacquer from building up on the ends of the blanks as they dry? Thanks
