Lately, I've noticed then when I'm getting to the final stages of finishing a pen, that the ends near the bushings have a slightly different shine than the rest of the pen.
I'm doing a CA/BLO finish, very similar to Fangar's method. Sand to 800, then go to MM. Apply CA, and then MM. Then a plastics polish, and the last step is PPP wax.
One thing I can figure that might be contributing to this is the fact that I'm using silicon carbide (wet-dry) sandpaper, rather than aluminum oxide. Perhaps the silicon carbide paper cuts metal better than would aluminum oxide?
The next thing that I can think of, is maybe I'm not wiping down the blanks real well before applying the next coat of finish. I wipe down the blanks between every three grits or so. I use mineral spirits for this wiping process. No real reason for mineral spirits, except that I have it on hand and no DNA on hand. Maybe DNA will wipe up the metal swarf better?
Thoughts?
I'm doing a CA/BLO finish, very similar to Fangar's method. Sand to 800, then go to MM. Apply CA, and then MM. Then a plastics polish, and the last step is PPP wax.
One thing I can figure that might be contributing to this is the fact that I'm using silicon carbide (wet-dry) sandpaper, rather than aluminum oxide. Perhaps the silicon carbide paper cuts metal better than would aluminum oxide?
The next thing that I can think of, is maybe I'm not wiping down the blanks real well before applying the next coat of finish. I wipe down the blanks between every three grits or so. I use mineral spirits for this wiping process. No real reason for mineral spirits, except that I have it on hand and no DNA on hand. Maybe DNA will wipe up the metal swarf better?
Thoughts?