Dominic Greco
Member
Figured that I would pass this along to you all.
I've had a love hate relationship with CA glue finishes. When it works right, it looks fantastic! When it fails, it fails miserably. And it fails for a number of reasons.
1.) Not allowing enough dry time between coats of heavy, and medium CA.
2.) Not applying enough coats of CA Glue.
3.) Having too heavy of a hand and sanding through the CA glue coatings.
But my number one pet peeve was the finish cracking when I went to remove the newly completed blanks from the mandrel! That is the worst! You just finished sanding and polishing. The blanks look terrific. Then you got to separate them from the bushing and the ca glue has plated onto the bushings! Even the slightest tension will cause the finish to crack right at the ends! AHHHHRG!
I've spoken with Scott Greaves about this and used some of his advice. But I hit on a "system" (for lack of a better word) that allows me to get nice consistent results.
1.) I purchased a can of Renaissance Wax and coated the bushings before applying the CA glue. While this won't prevent plating, it will make it much easier to remove the accumulated CA Glue.
2.) After applying your coats of thick, medium, and thick CA glues, and allowing it to dry, but before sanding, I set the lathe back to 1700 rpm and use my thin parting tool like a mini scraper to clean off the accumulated CA glue at the bushings, right up to where they meet the pen blank. Be careful not to disturb the finish on the blanks.
3.)next ,with the lathe off I rotate the spindle by hand and use a razor knife sharp side up, like an ultra thin parting tool and "score" the CA glue right at the joint line. Doing the scoring now assures that you don't screw up the surface later. If you scratch it a bit, most times it can be sanded out. As above, be careful not to disturb the finish on the blanks.
4.) Then I sand in my usual order 150, 220, 320, 400, 600, then micromesh all the way up to 12000.
5.) After your all done, the blanks should separate away from the blanks with little or no effort. You can clean up any excess CA Glue on the ends of the completed blanks by sanding with a piece of 600 grit sandpaper on a flat surface.
Using this regimen, I was finally able to get a consistent crack free, defect free CA glue finish. I hope this helps those of you out there who are having some issues with this finish.
I've had a love hate relationship with CA glue finishes. When it works right, it looks fantastic! When it fails, it fails miserably. And it fails for a number of reasons.
1.) Not allowing enough dry time between coats of heavy, and medium CA.
2.) Not applying enough coats of CA Glue.
3.) Having too heavy of a hand and sanding through the CA glue coatings.
But my number one pet peeve was the finish cracking when I went to remove the newly completed blanks from the mandrel! That is the worst! You just finished sanding and polishing. The blanks look terrific. Then you got to separate them from the bushing and the ca glue has plated onto the bushings! Even the slightest tension will cause the finish to crack right at the ends! AHHHHRG!
I've spoken with Scott Greaves about this and used some of his advice. But I hit on a "system" (for lack of a better word) that allows me to get nice consistent results.
1.) I purchased a can of Renaissance Wax and coated the bushings before applying the CA glue. While this won't prevent plating, it will make it much easier to remove the accumulated CA Glue.
2.) After applying your coats of thick, medium, and thick CA glues, and allowing it to dry, but before sanding, I set the lathe back to 1700 rpm and use my thin parting tool like a mini scraper to clean off the accumulated CA glue at the bushings, right up to where they meet the pen blank. Be careful not to disturb the finish on the blanks.
3.)next ,with the lathe off I rotate the spindle by hand and use a razor knife sharp side up, like an ultra thin parting tool and "score" the CA glue right at the joint line. Doing the scoring now assures that you don't screw up the surface later. If you scratch it a bit, most times it can be sanded out. As above, be careful not to disturb the finish on the blanks.
4.) Then I sand in my usual order 150, 220, 320, 400, 600, then micromesh all the way up to 12000.
5.) After your all done, the blanks should separate away from the blanks with little or no effort. You can clean up any excess CA Glue on the ends of the completed blanks by sanding with a piece of 600 grit sandpaper on a flat surface.
Using this regimen, I was finally able to get a consistent crack free, defect free CA glue finish. I hope this helps those of you out there who are having some issues with this finish.