First Successful CA Finish

[William Young]

I just finished trying a CA Finish again. Too many times I had tried it on pens and had to sand it all off and replace it with another type of finish.
So this time I experimented on a simple design secret compartment keyring and it came out pretty good. I may even try it on a pen next time.
I think my biggest problem for it not working right on pevious attempts was because I had my lathe running at the same speed that I make my pens and small turnings (1800rpm) . This time I slowed the lathe down for the finishing part to its lowest speed (500rpm) and that helped a lot.
The CA did not produce near the gloss that a high gloss laquer finish does so I top coated it with Mylands friction polish and that brought it to life. I dont know if others do that or not but I figured it was worth a try.

The picture sure doesn't do it justice with all the reflections from my overhead lighting. I am actually quite pleased with the way this turned out and it is definitely a quicker way of applying a finish than the laquer method.
It seems every type of finishing has its advantages and dissadvantages.
W.Y.

 

[Scott]

Hi William!

Nice looking key ring! The speed with which you get done with a CA finish is what I like about it!

Scott.

 

[wayneis]

William,

Using friction polish is just a bandaid and like always will wear off. Whenever I use CA I MM it from either 2400 or 3200 to 12000 and some times I then use Hut Ultra Gloss plastic polish. That makes it like glass.

Wayne

 

[DCBluesman]

Wayne is right on here. (Despite his reluctance to acknowledge that friction is a viable finish for pens []). CA is plastic in nature. Treat it as such and your finish should be fantastic. FYI, for a renewal of gloss, Renaissance Wax is actually a polymer which should work well on all plastics.

 

[William Young]

Hmmmm .. You guys sure know how to spend my money .. what's left of it.. []
Now it's plastic polish on my next order. []
W.Y.

 

[Mac In Oak Ridge]

Nice work William. Now let's see a pen!

 

[wayneis]

William If you have done any acrylics the polish that you would use for that will work fine here. Or you can go to an Automotive supply type store and get something like Meguires Mirror Glaze. I use this kind of polishs on most all of my finishes just before Ren wax.

Wayne

 

[William Young]

Thanks Wayne;
I have never done any acrylics. Doubt if I ever will. I prefer just wood both local and exotic. But that's just me. Not critisizing anything at all from ones that like using acrylics , etc. Guess I'm just a wood head ;-)
I might try some diamondwood or something along that line some time. It looks pretty neat and is still wood even though it's been processed.
W.Y.