My first two - Pen & Pencil Cigar in Cedar
- Thread starter CapitalGGeek
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plantman
Member
Randy; Cedar makes interesting pens because of the color changes in a piece of wood. Good job on your first try!! One suggestion. Put your pens on a plain backround when you take photos. The busy backdrop takes away from the pens unless you are making a statement with your books. :bananen_smilies022:Try using a plactic polish such as One-Step as your final step. Jim S
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Wright
Member
Nice pens Randy, I like the ceder. As for the swirl marks, did you cross sand and go through all MM grits. I finish off with Novus 2, that helps take out small scratch marks. Hope this helps.
CapitalGGeek
Member
Cross-sanded up through 1200 grit, and then burnished with 5/0 steel wool. The swirl isn't in the wood, it's in the CA. I sanded & cross sanded with 1200 and 2000 on the 3rd & fourth coat, and did nothing on the final coat.
Wingdoctor
Member
I buff my CA finish after sanding with Micro Mesh using the Beall Buffing System. 2 compounds and the blanks come out like glass.
Texatdurango
Member
And there is your problem!
I too sand to 2000 grit then polish, but don't sand the CA with 2000 grit then apply another coat of ca, you'll never get a glass smooth finish that way. It's fine if you want a satin or matte finish. When I go for a more natural feel of the wood, I'll switch from paper towels to apply the CA to a much smoother "fancy dinner paper napkin" with no patterns embossed. That way your ca "applicator" is VERY smooth which will give you a nice smooth finish without swirls and ridges. Using very little ca and rubbing it on faster on your last coat will give you what you want. A little practice will get you there in no time.
Personally, I wouldn't sand the wood that fine and definitely wouldn't burnish it. Try sanding up to 600 or 800 then apply the ca, I think you'll be just as satisfied and you're giving the ca something to sink it's teeth into!
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LarryDNJR
Member
They look good, just kind of distracted by the background.
SDB777
Member
Half the fun is milling the cedar, the whole neighborhood smells really great for a few hours when I crank my mill up!
Glad you turned the knot, most don't like to...knowing it'll give them a sanding challenge. The swirls can be greatly reduced by using something like Maguire's PlastixPolish(can get it cheap at most automotive store, and sometime WallyWorld).
Scott (thanks for the cool pens) B
Glad you turned the knot, most don't like to...knowing it'll give them a sanding challenge. The swirls can be greatly reduced by using something like Maguire's PlastixPolish(can get it cheap at most automotive store, and sometime WallyWorld).
Scott (thanks for the cool pens) B
Fishinbo
Member
Ahh, cigar pens! Just my favorite! Supreme beauty.
CapitalGGeek
Member
I was disappointed that it didn't smell much. It's not the aromatic type of cedar. I was planning on turning Christmas ornaments out of it, to add a cedar smell to a plastic & steel tree, but it made nice pens.
I like knots, probably because they are more difficult to work with. I think the results are worth the extra effort.
I'll have to look for the PlastixPolish - I'm new to turning and the CA finish. I get good results by not sanding the final coat of poly, and thought it would be similar with CA.