How many times

[Guest]

have you refinished the same pen before you gave up on it?

 

[Fred in NC]

At first I would keep trying, and sometimes went through sanding and refinishing 3-4 times.

Nowadays unless the blank is expensive, I give up sooner. I have extra tubes and I consider my time more valuable than fighting blanks.

Oily woods were my problem at the beginning. Then I learned two things: First, I can wipe off some of the oil with alcohol or acetone. Second, and more important, some oily woods don't really need much finish at all.

 

[Guest]

Originally posted by whatwoodido
<br />What finishing process are you using?


Drew

CA
The pen is a lamination of various woodsoncluding African Blackwood purple heart, rock maple,Wenge,pink ivory and anything else I could think of.

 

[Fred in NC]

I was using PolyCrylic... and I still use it on some pens.
The problem was mostly related to oily woods.

Also, the blank was getting too hot while sanding. It would burn streaks.

I don't use CA anymore.