Finishing woes on may latest pen

[Joe Burns]

Presently working on a Jr. Gent II fountain pen with a nice BOW blank for a charity auction this week. I having a lot of frustration in finishing this pen.

1st started with 20 layers of thin CA. It laid down nice and seemed to polish out well with MM to 12k and then hut polish and buffing wheel. When getting ready to assemble I noticed white spots under the CA in the center of the blank. For some reason this always happens to me with BOW.

Stripped the blank and started again with the General wood turners finish this time. It laid down well and this I pulled a stupid it seems. I thought I would take a 1000 and 2000 abralom pad lightly to the blank to smooth it out and then go to the buffing wheel. Bad idea. I did introduce some scratching.

Now back on the lathe again and applied another 15 coats of wood turners finish. It seemed to get rid of all the introduced scratches.

Im letting it cure overnight before I take it off the lathe. I wanted to float the question on the best way to finish off the blank before assembly. My goal is to get rid of all the small imperfections that are introduced when laying the finish on the blank.

Should I use Hut's plastic polish like I would on a CA finish? Not sure if I should.
Should I go straight to the buffing wheel and then assemble?

Joe

 

[OOPS]

I am not the best person to answer how to salvage this blank. However, I can tell you that oily woods present problems for CA finishes, as you experienced first hand. I have read about and observed different solutions for this problem. One solution is to take the completed blank and put it into a container of denatured alcohol for about 30 minutes. The DNA will dissolve some of the oil and resins in the wood and remove them from the surface. Once the blank is removed from the DNA and it dries, the CA will now adhere to the wood without the formation of the white spots, which generally is due to moisture.

Some other oily woods tend to lose some of their color when submerged in DNA for that length of time. In those cases, the best remedy I have seen is to put some DNA on a rag and run it over the blank with the grain several times, to remove surface resins and oil. Experience will be your guide in the long run.

Since I prefer wood that looks as close to natural as possible, I don't want to lose the color often associated with the resins. Therefore, I rub the DNA over the blank lightly, as described above. Then I finish the blank by dipping into polyurethane, rather than using CA. I have seen and heard so many problems with CA on oily woods that to me its not worth the aggravation. Others might differ, but this is my two cents on the subject. I hope this helps.

 

[Alzey]

I have had good results by using 1-2 coats of BLO prior to using CA. This isolates the oil in the wood from the CA.

 

[BangleGuy]

I have been using Shellawax lately and really like the result. CA can be a pain. If you stick with CA, you might try the crafter foam application method (vs. paper towel) which avoids fibers getting stuck in the finish during application. I generally can get a CA finish in one coat which is between 0.005 and .010 thick with minimal lines and wet sanding. I also bake my blanks at 200F for an hour before gluing, just to make sure they are bone dry. Best of luck! Eric