CA thickness and effect on gloss

[Tiger]

Turned a pen and as it turned out one barrel had a CA thickness of .2 mm, the other about .4 mm. The 0.4 mm barrel had a slightly deeper gloss on it. Have you found that more coats gives you a much deeper gloss like you are looking under glass?

 

[Cloven]

While I have not turned hundreds of pens to say I have an incredibly large sample size, I have turned maybe 25 or so that I did a CA finish on, and I can say that, for me, the only real impact on gloss was my post sanding/buffing/polishing routine, not thickness of finish. The one time I finished a 50 cal using porous wood with thick CA it still came out semi-glossy, it just wasn't perfectly even.
I guess the more layers you add, it would change the look from a technical perspective, but in my experience the material underneath can have as much of an impact on that look than the thickness. I finished the black trustone Majestic with 6 layers of CA, and I finished my scalloped walnut with just as many, both equally MM polished, and the wood one looks like it's under glass, where as the trustone just looks more glossy.

 

[lorbay]

Check out Charles H pens, he puts 20-30 coats on and its like looking into a pond.

Lin.

 

[Dan Masshardt]

Check out Charles H pens, he puts 20-30 coats on and its like looking into a pond. Lin.

Seems like there wouldn't be much material left on the ends of many pens which that thick of a finish.

 

[tgsean]

Dan I put 10 coats of thin CA, then sand with 800 grit and then another 10 coats of thin CA. Then wet sand from 1500-12000 grit. I find that I am happy with the results.

 

[Tiger]

Check out Charles H pens, he puts 20-30 coats on and its like looking into a pond. Lin.

Seems like there wouldn't be much material left on the ends of many pens which that thick of a finish.

Had a look at Charles'es work, that is one deep gloss. In order to get that many coats on he has had to taper his pens so that they are wider in the middle and narrow at the ends. It would appear that number of coats does affect the amount of perceived depth but I would think the law of diminishing returns kicks in, but as to where that occurs, who knows?

 

[StuartCovey]

I have never found the thickness of the CA to affect the shine.
I do about 8-10 coats of Medium and get a great shine regardless of thickness.

 

[lorbay]

I have never found the thickness of the CA to affect the shine.
I do about 8-10 coats of Medium and get a great shine regardless of thickness.

Not sure Tiger cares to much about shine as he has got that down. He just wants depth. Like looking into glass affect.
Lin

 

[Lenny]

I don't do that many coats but Charles' results are hard to argue with.
You would need to turn well below finished size in order to end up with the proper fit. It wouldn't need to be tapered though.

 

[Tiger]

To some extent a very shiny finish would create the illusion of depth I think.

 

[Tiger]

Had a look through Charles'es posts he also does an enormous amount of sanding on each pen, I would say that even without the 20 to 30 coats of medium ca that the finish will still be outstanding, not sure exactly what he does but I'd like to turn at least one pen and get the sort of finish he does.