How to refinish a pen???

[woodscavenger]

I have done some pens that I love. I finished them with a few coats of tung or linseed oil followed by 2-3 coats of friction polish. I have noticed that my ambrosia maple and walnut pens seem very dry now and don't seem to have much of a surface coating. I have only had them for about 2 weeks. What is the best way to add a finish to them now without disassembling them down to their tube and putting them back on the mandrel?

 

[tipusnr]

The only thing that's worked for me is to put painter's tape on the metal parts and use a cream or paste wax and then buff them on my bealle set-up.

Not perfect but works.

 

[daledut]

You could also tape off the metal parts like tip said and use spray gloss lacquer.

 

[Gary]

I would second what William has said. Once they are assembled there isn't much you can do other than wax and buff. Use some Renaissance wax if you have it, and you can just buff it by hand.

Next time you might want to use a finish other than a friction polish...just a suggestion.

 

[KKingery]

I have to agree with all of the above. Once it's assembled, you may do more harm than good trying to take it apart.

 

[woodscavenger]

What about layering on a few more coats of oil?

 

[Gary]

Originally posted by KKingery
<br />I have to agree with all of the above. Once it's assembled, you may do more harm than good trying to take it apart.

You just have to be creative and careful. Slimlines I toss when I'm unhappy with them. The big guys I'm going to salvage. I cut one apart the other day with a Dremel Tool and managed to save every part except the tubes.

 

[Gary]

Shane, you keep adding oil to it, and it's just going to turn to grime.

 

[DCBluesman]

Shane, since you mention that these are pens you love, I'd strongly recommend that you consider a coat of polyurethane. You can get a small can fairly cheap at the hardware store. Put on a VERY thin coat so as not to ruin your sanding and existing finish. Better to put on two very thins coats than to get a drip or run with one thicker coat. Your other choices, in order of expense, would be to re-wax it (and plan on doing so regularly), put on a top coat of Renaissance Wax (a softened, microcrystalline polymer) or to top coat it with TSW. Don't give up. They ARE salvageable.

 

[Guest]

Though you can refinish them after assembly I have found teh results sometmes aren't worth the effort.
What type of pen are they?(style)
Any particular reson you don't want to dissassemble them?
Dissassembly on most styles is not that difficult.

 

[Gregory Huey]

The best way I know is to take them apart and refinish them. You may also want to think about some other kind of finish. Fricition polish just does not hold up that well.

 

[woodscavenger]

Besides CA-BLO what else holds up well?

 

[Guest]

Originally posted by woodscavenger
<br />Besides CA-BLO what else holds up well?

I am a great proponent of Ca finishes,both plain CA and CA/blo.
THey are ime consuming to get PERFECT reults every time (at least for me) and I have benn doing that type of finish since I turned my first pen in June.
That being said,Lacquer finishes have been traditional with pen makers along with others.
After many suugestions from the guys at Woodturningz, I decided tor try The Mylands 3 step system they sell.
It is a cellulose sanding sealer,High build polish and Carnauba wax.
The learning curve is short, decent results the first try.
I tewked the method of application and sanding with MM and got resulte that I have a hard time discerning from CA.
All finishes will eventually fail without care, it's just a matter of time.

 

[C_Ludwigsen]

There is some excellent information on the hardness/durability of CA, Water-based Lacquer, and Nitro-Cellulose Lacquer in the Finishing forum under this thread...

http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2713&whichpage=1#19724

 

[Gary]

I like Myland's Sanding Sealer followed by multiple coats of Myland's Melamine Lacquer followed by MM to 12000.

 

[its_virgil]

What have you learned about friction polish from this experience? Are you still using it? The best way is to disassemble and sand off the finish and put on something more durable. What would that be you ask? Oh, but you didn't ask. The tape suggestion works good...about the only way short of taking the pen apart.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

PS: CA, Lacquer, Enduro in no particular order

Originally posted by woodscavenger
<br />I have done some pens that I love. I finished them with a few coats of tung or linseed oil followed by 2-3 coats of friction polish. I have noticed that my ambrosia maple and walnut pens seem very dry now and don't seem to have much of a surface coating. I have only had them for about 2 weeks. What is the best way to add a finish to them now without disassembling them down to their tube and putting them back on the mandrel?

 

[woodscavenger]

It's a good thing those cigar pens are relatively cheap and I used them to experiment with. I am going to spin down some spindles and experiment with different finishes before I do my next set of nicer pens.