monophoto
Member
I'm retired, and once a week I get together for coffee with some of the folks I used to work with. One of the guys is a woodturner who makes pens, stoppers and bowls, and who has been offering occasional advice to me in my woodturning journey.
Yesterday, I took along a 'show and tell' - a collection of pens and stoppers that I had made recently to show to my friends.
Jan complemented my efforts with inlays, and also the finish on my stoppers (WOP). But he dismissed the finish on my pens - 'you need to work on finishing' - 'you need to sand them more'.
While his comment stung initially, I recognized that he was right and he was actually doing me a favor by being honest with me. .
Today, I decided to see if I could improve the finish on a walnut "Artisan" fountain pen that I made a couple of months ago and have been using regularly.
Originally, I had finished the pen with multiple (probably 6-8) coats of BLO and thin CA. It looked OK, but it's wasn't really smooth. So I disassembled it and remounted the upper and lower barrels on the mandrel. I lightly sanded it with 400 grit sandpaper (trying to avoid removing any more of the finish than was necessary to smooth it out). Then, I applied a number of coats of BLO and medium CA. I noticed that the lower barrel acquired a nice glow, but the upper barrel seemed to remain rough even though there was an obvious buildup.
After the CA had cured for half and hour or so, I sanded again with 600 grit, and then 800 grit, and then shifted to wet-sanding with MM, going all the way to 12000. That left a very smooth, satin finish. Then, I used a bit of plastic polish.
Amazing what a difference that made!
Bottom line - Jan did me a great favor, and his friendly 'kick in the butt' caused me to learn how to do a better finish.
That's what friends are for.:wink:
Yesterday, I took along a 'show and tell' - a collection of pens and stoppers that I had made recently to show to my friends.
Jan complemented my efforts with inlays, and also the finish on my stoppers (WOP). But he dismissed the finish on my pens - 'you need to work on finishing' - 'you need to sand them more'.
While his comment stung initially, I recognized that he was right and he was actually doing me a favor by being honest with me. .
Today, I decided to see if I could improve the finish on a walnut "Artisan" fountain pen that I made a couple of months ago and have been using regularly.
Originally, I had finished the pen with multiple (probably 6-8) coats of BLO and thin CA. It looked OK, but it's wasn't really smooth. So I disassembled it and remounted the upper and lower barrels on the mandrel. I lightly sanded it with 400 grit sandpaper (trying to avoid removing any more of the finish than was necessary to smooth it out). Then, I applied a number of coats of BLO and medium CA. I noticed that the lower barrel acquired a nice glow, but the upper barrel seemed to remain rough even though there was an obvious buildup.
After the CA had cured for half and hour or so, I sanded again with 600 grit, and then 800 grit, and then shifted to wet-sanding with MM, going all the way to 12000. That left a very smooth, satin finish. Then, I used a bit of plastic polish.
Amazing what a difference that made!
Bottom line - Jan did me a great favor, and his friendly 'kick in the butt' caused me to learn how to do a better finish.
That's what friends are for.:wink:
