Cracks and “white spots”.

[goirish1127]

I was finishing a turning and on the noticed white spots in the finish. Not sure how/why they showed. More importantly, how do I fix them and keep them from happening? Are they a collection of CA in a pit? The first pic is a handle that I am working on. I have noticed the "open" spots on some of the other things I have made before but I didn't notice any on the one I was finishing. How do I keep these from happening? Thanks for the insight.

 

[1080Wayne]

Most likely CA in a pit . May need a bit more sanding and re-application of CA . Your rough turning will have the same problem , but much worse . Many discussions on this site about this problem , some recent . Try search CA white spots .

 

[wouldentu2?]

To eliminate the CA dust in the pits you need to fill the grain with enough coats of CA that when you start to sand the pits are already full.

 

[greenacres2]

The white spots are most likely CA glue that hadn't dried before the next coat. As Wayne referenced, smoother will help--but when you have voids like that to work with you may have to allow for drying time between applying coats. Grain of that handle looks like some sort of oak--possibly red oak? Much as I love it (sort of) for furniture--the open pores of many oaks (especially red) are huge in a small turning. I've pretty much sworn off North American oaks for pens--because i'm too lazy to save the great grain while filling the voids at the same time.

Like the user name--Hockey team ALMOST pulled off a championship, would have been cool after Fencing and Women's Basketball won NCAA titles. We had season tickets for the women for several years--outstanding fundamental basketball, and a great value in sports tickets.
earl

 

[TonyL]

After about 2,000 pens (maybe a few hundred CA finishes) over 4 years, that finally happened to me. And it looks like the same type of wood. In fact, more white spots appear as it aged from 1 to 4 days. I used Mercury Flex CA glue and their accelerator. I know it has nothing to do with that because I used it dozens of times and well as the very cheap stuff and never had a white spot. I also let the pen dry 2 to 3 minutes between 10 or 12 light coats (I use a timer - Amazon Dot). I think it has to do with my using DNA and then forced air to clean out the sanding dust. I let that dry too ---maybe the open grain absorbed too much DNA and it wasn't really dry. I used to read about this and wonder why it never happened to me - then it did .

 

[Ted iin Michigan]

I've been turning pens for a while and I've experienced the white spots, too. I use CA exclusively and my thinking is they are seen almost always in open grained wood such as oak, ash or Wenge. Esp Wenge. And I believe they show up more in Wenge because it is a much darker species (duh).
So far we're all n agreement. Now we differ: I'm thinking they are caused by fine wood dust from the sanding process. When I'm doing a Wenge pen, I usually sand to 400. Then I do a THOROUGH wipe down with acetone (or DNA). Then on to CA application. This has ALWAYS eliminated the problem.
Hope this helps

 

[goirish1127]

@1080wayne- Thanks. I did after reading your reply and found a lot of information. Still trying to sift through the wealth of knowledge available and figuring out how to navigate the site.

@wouldentu2?- Do you mean to apply CA before initial sanding?

Earl- It's padauk (I think). Been to a few women's UGA games with some guys I play Pickleball with. It would be nice if Brian Kelley can get the football team to play all the way through the end of the season and not put it in cruise control the last few weeks.

Tony- I did use DNA but not compressed air (but after reading some other threads, I will be using that going forward). I haven't been making pens (or even turning) too long, but I have noticed that the length of time I let the coats dry is related to taking my ADD medicine. I will try a timer to get more consistent.

Ted- How long do you let it dry after wiping down with acetone or DNA? I have been sanding through 600. Is this a step that I can eliminate?

Thanks to all for your replies and advice. I ended up taking it back down to bare wood (good skew practice and I don't always have a "light" touch) and will try it again.


Sent from my iPad using Penturners.org mobile app

 

[Ted iin Michigan]

Irish - both the alcohol and the acetone evaporate quickly - more so the acetone, but they are both ready to go in less than 5 minutes. As far as the sanding question goes, it's pretty much up to you. There are times I'll sand finer than 400, but the norm is 400. Depends on how the wood looks when I wet it down.