CA Finish Tip: Thin with Super -Solvent

[MattTheHat]

I searched, but couldn't find where this might have already been posted...

I'm new to CA finishing. My personal belief is that pens should be made of acrylic, and making them of wood is kind of kinky, so I never had the need. But, you gotta love the way a nice burled blank looks, so color me kinky. I did my first CA finish last week and it came out okay, but the finish wasn't as smooth as I'd hoped and certainly not up to the standards of my acrylic finishes. What to do?

I keep a couple of bottles of Super-Solvent around for getting CA residue off my fingers. It's about $9 for a small bottle from Woodcraft, but the stuff works great, and lasts far longer than you would imagine.

So, I'm looking at the overly-thick CA finish and figure I'll put a few drops of Super-Solvent on a paper towel and run it across the blank, just to see what happens. As I'd hoped, it works. Same effect as when you apply the CA, but it dissolves the last layer instead. You just work the paper towel across the blanks at varying speeds as you would do when you're applying the CA. You watch as the solvent dries out and the finish hardens again...just a bit thinner this time.

I found that applying the BLO and CA at the same time, though, helps keep the CA from drying too fast. I start with a thin coat of BLO only. For all subsequent layers, I use three drops of BLO with a single drop of Tite-Bond thick CA right on top. Between the thicker glue and the BLO being right there with it, the CA cures a bit more slowly and thinly.

I'll try to remember to post a pic of the Texas Walnut burl (from Turntex.com TurnTex.com, thanks, Curtis!) magnetic Vortex I did yesterday afternoon. It almost looks like an acrylic blank to me. Very nice, but not too shiny.

YMMV.

-Matt

 

[thewishman]

Sounds like a good idea. I usually use 400 grit sandpaper to smooth out rough finishes before using the MM.

Hey Matt, another good use for that bottle - when it is empty, refill it with acetone and save $8.75.

 

[leehljp]

There was a thread a few days ago about using certain kinds of foam applicators, and I mentioned that many over the years have used plastic applicators and even rubber/nitrile type gloves to apply the CA. These make CA applications very smooth as opposed to Paper Towel. PT causes faster curing because it is a mild accelerant. AND PT soaks up huge amounts of CA where as the plastic/foam applicators cause 80 - 90% of the CA go onto the blank.

If you do not want your CA to be too shiny, use 3600 to 4000 MM to knock the shine off.

IF the CA is not finished well enough to have a shine, it will be noticed by buyers and by the general public. For me as a test, a few years ago, I made three pens identical and knocked the shine off just for those who do not like shine. In the photos it was hard to tell that it had any CA at all on it. For those who want wood feel but good protection, that was one way to do it. But most people who want a flat finish prefer the wood only. According to about 90 - 95% of those who do sales to the general public, the general public likes the "shiny" ones.

Shiny versus Flat finish:
http://www.penturners.org/photos/images/940/1_3Cigs_3Fin_1burl.jpg