Bushing swarf getting into my finish?

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bgray

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Apr 17, 2006
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Milan, OH
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?
 

KenV

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Oct 28, 2005
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Juneau, Alaska.
The silicon carbide paper I have is black - and tends to cut metals well. Hard to say if you are getting black swarf of black resdue from the black grit.

Wiping after each grit helps to remove the larger grit and not contaminate the next size grit. Different folks use different things to wipe, blow, vacuum and try to remove the more coarse grit before moving to a finer scratch pattern.

But I do not use black sandpaper on light materials. Try not to sand the bushings. If you do a lot of slop sanding, coat the bushings with Thin CA to cut the wear. Sanding sealer helps stop the bleeding. CA appears to go over sanding sealer w/0 problems for me. You might also CA the end grain if you want to bullet proof any particles getting into the end grain pores.

Good luck -- All you can be sure if is that if you keep doing the same thing you will get similar results.
 

Randy_

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Nov 29, 2004
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Dallas suburb, Texas, USA.
I cut some little plastic disks out of the tops of butter tubs that are about 1/4" larger than the diameter of the blank and put them between the bushings and the blanks. Just being a little more careful about sanding will work too; but I'm lazy. The residue from the black sandpaper can be an issue. I colored a few of the first pens I made and no longer use that dark sandpaper....actually, I sort of like the look; but most don't.
 
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