Don't you just hate when...

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RSidetrack

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Feb 5, 2011
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you have carefully sanded and made your blank beautiful, carefully applied 15-20 coats of CA, and begin sanding down to find that you are .02 to .05 off of the size you need (too large). So you have to sand it down a good bit.

You begin to carefully wet sand down little by little and you finally get the ends to the size you want. You dry and clean off the blank to discover your outward bevel area no longer has any CA on it and you had been sanding wood. :rain: <- theres that cloud over my head

Now not only did you lose the finish in that area, but it has discolored and absorbed water :mad:

I had this happen to a purpleheart pen today. I even had the blanks set outside to purple to the perfect hue. They were beautiful, and now I have to sand not only the top piece that I ruined down, but the other piece because once I sand the CA off the colors won't match up right. I have to sunbathe them again for a while. Frustrating. This was mainly a venting post.
 
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Xander

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Feb 11, 2012
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Sorry to hear your misfortune. Hope you get a good result after re-doing it.

I'm sure you know this, but for the newbies, when doing a CA finish remember you have to go undersize (by .005) and then build up the CA to a little oversize, and sand/MM down to the correct finished size.

I usually use the Pen Pro to get to the 'finished' size, then sand to -.005 or close. Then add CA to +.00something, and MM to finished size.
 
Drstrangefart

Drstrangefart

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I've been there quite a few times myself. I usually end up taking it apart and re-doing it. Or hitting it with a hammer, depending on how much of a rage-fueled beast I am that day.
 
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RSidetrack

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I had a great streak of not doing this to a single pen this year. I haven't had a chance to fix the pen yet, but hope to this evening or tomorrow.

I do turn it down to size, then sand under size then coat up. I just hit the middle too much I guess. I am still getting used to turning between centers and sanding that way as well, a bit tighter of an area to fit the hands and sanding media.
 
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renowb

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May 27, 2009
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Gloom, despair and agony on me,
Deep dark depression excessive misery,
If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all,
Gloom, despair and agony on me.

randyrls said:
Reminds me of that Hee-Haw song; "If it were not for my bad luck, I'd have no luck at-all"!
Click to expand...
 
PenMan1

PenMan1

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Sometime, when you are in the shop "goofing", take a piece of ANY kind of scrap wood and turn it as perfectly round as you can turn it.
Take a 3/4, 5/8 or even a 1/2 inch open end wrench and make sure the blank is as close to the selected tolerance-all the way down the blank , as you can turn it, from one end to the other. Then, sand and prepare this blank as you would any CA finished pen you intend to make.

Take a caliper and measure the blank from end to end (I make sharpie "measure" lines for accuracy). RECORD the diameters at the "measure" lines. THEN, apply ONE coat of CA (your choice of thicknesses), as SMOOTHLY as you can apply it using your usual CA finishing technique. LET THIS COAT DRY COMPLETELY, without aid of accelerator, etc.

THEN, use the calipers to measure AGAIN at the same measure points. SUBTRACT the first measurement from the second measurement (in 1/1000th of inches). THIS NUMBER IS THE THICKNESS OF EACH OF YOUR FINISH COATS.

For example, if the difference is 1/1000th of an inch and you like to use 7 coats of CA finish, you would need to "overturn and sand" you blank by 7/1000th, then add 8 costs of CA(allow 1 extra coat for sanding and polishing reduction).

This formula works very well for me. I learned to make my finish thickness very close to 1/1000th to keep the math simple.

As an old master Yacht builder once explained to me...".make yourself a map. Without a map, you'll ride right by, because you didn't know where you were going in the first place".

Respectfully submitted.
 
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Tiger

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Feb 15, 2009
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Location
Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Yep, hate when that happens and it happens all too frequently.

Andy that's a great way to obtain precision and I'm going to try that as soon as I work out which applicator to use, foam or paper towel, thanks for sharing.
 
R

RSidetrack

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Feb 5, 2011
Messages
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Location
Fayetteville, PA
PenMan1 said:
Sometime, when you are in the shop "goofing", take a piece of ANY kind of scrap wood and turn it as perfectly round as you can turn it.
Take a 3/4, 5/8 or even a 1/2 inch open end wrench and make sure the blank is as close to the selected tolerance-all the way down the blank , as you can turn it, from one end to the other. Then, sand and prepare this blank as you would any CA finished pen you intend to make.

Take a caliper and measure the blank from end to end (I make sharpie "measure" lines for accuracy). RECORD the diameters at the "measure" lines. THEN, apply ONE coat of CA (your choice of thicknesses), as SMOOTHLY as you can apply it using your usual CA finishing technique. LET THIS COAT DRY COMPLETELY, without aid of accelerator, etc.

THEN, use the calipers to measure AGAIN at the same measure points. SUBTRACT the first measurement from the second measurement (in 1/1000th of inches). THIS NUMBER IS THE THICKNESS OF EACH OF YOUR FINISH COATS.

For example, if the difference is 1/1000th of an inch and you like to use 7 coats of CA finish, you would need to "overturn and sand" you blank by 7/1000th, then add 8 costs of CA(allow 1 extra coat for sanding and polishing reduction).

This formula works very well for me. I learned to make my finish thickness very close to 1/1000th to keep the math simple.

As an old master Yacht builder once explained to me...".make yourself a map. Without a map, you'll ride right by, because you didn't know where you were going in the first place".

Respectfully submitted.
Click to expand...
I am going to do this ... right now :wink:
 
S

Smitty37

Passed Away Mar 29, 2018
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nativewooder said:
I still don't understand why anyone would "wet" sand wood with water!:eek:
Click to expand...
I think he was intending to wet sand the CA finish and not really remove any wood.

I sometimes wet sand to keep from breathing the sawdust normally raised by sanding - I have to let the blank dry for a couple of days after I finish.
 
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Russknan

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Mar 13, 2012
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Nanuet, NY
Thanks, Hank. I have something similar, the "Easy Pen Turner" from Craft Supplies, which I am beginning to make friends with. I initially used it on an acrylic blank, and found I kept "sticking" it into the blank - even after reviewing the instructions, etc. Put it down for awhile. Now am fairly happy using it on wood blanks after they're rounded or if I'm not happy with how my CA went on and I just barely want to shave it back. Either way, I find it impossible to have TOO MANY tools - or gadgets, for that matter.
 
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