Turn, finish, THEN apply decal?

[tbfoto]

I've been away from the forum for a while now but have my lathe set up again and want to make some pens with decals. Most everything I have read or watched has the pens being turned and CA finish applied....then the decal. Does finish have to be applied before the decal? If several coats of finish are applied after the decal does that not provide a good enough finish? Teach me.

 

[Jim Burr]

Some are after, I find that PR, apply, add CA works for some things, some are different. What have you tried so far?

 

[asyler]

if it s a wood blank, i apply a couple of coats of thin c/a, sand to 400, apply decal, allow to dry 24 hrs, apply a couple of coats of thick c/a with accelerator between coats, sand , then c/a finish,
if pr, i ship the thin c/a

 

[tbfoto]

What have you tried so far?

Well I turned two pens today out of "Holly" wood. Wow, that stuff turns real nice and smooth. Anyway, I went ahead and did a couple coats of CA finish. I printed the decals today also so I need to allow 24 hours for the bonder to set up on that so I went ahead and applied the CA finish to the blanks since I had the time. Tomorrow I'll cut out the decals and apply them. This will be my first time adding a decal as well. I think I read that I need to wait another 24 hours after applying the decals before applying the final coats of CA finish.

 

[lorbay]

You should wait an 8 hours after applying the ca as it needs to gas off. 8 hours is enough after the decal is applied. These were all decals.
http://www.penturners.org/forum/f13/last-order-116797/
Lin

 

[Dan26]

Be sure to sand the CA finish before you apply the decal. Any air between the finish and decal will show. But it sounds like you are on track with the way I do it.

 

[BKind2Anmls]

I just did a bunch of decals on Ash.

I cut out the decals very close to the border. I sanded to 12,000, put on my decal (printed with a color laser printer), hit it with a quick spray of shellac, and after it dried for a few minutes I added my CA finish. It looks like the decal was actually painted on the wood and there is no sign of the border.

 

[Jim15]

Looks great.

 

[tbfoto]

That looks great. I hope I can get mine to look that good.

 

[Pjohnson]

I just did a bunch of decals on Ash.

I cut out the decals very close to the border. I sanded to 12,000, put on my decal (printed with a color laser printer), hit it with a quick spray of shellac, and after it dried for a few minutes I added my CA finish. It looks like the decal was actually painted on the wood and there is no sign of the border.

Curious, did you spray the shellac with the lathe spinning?