Origin of the CA Finish?

[DocStram]

I mostly use CA as a finish on my pens. I often wonder how the idea of using CA as a finish ever got started. I mean, it all sounds so crazy .... here's this beautiful piece of wood on the lathe .... and then somebody comes up with the idea of drizzling CA all over the blank? Was CA being used as a finish for some other wood products? Who thought it up? How did they come up with the idea for using CA? I always think of Russ as the Dean of Wood Finishing ... maybe he will shed some light on the origins. [?]

 

[RussFairfield]

I have no idea who started using CA as a finish, but I found people already using it for pens and other small, and a few not so small, items when we moved back to Western WA in 1998. That was the first I had seen it used.

The first published use of CA glue (with BLO) was by Michael Dresdner, and he had learned about it from another woodturner in the same area.

I would suspect that this is one of those things that have had multiple discoveries once people started looking for pen finishes that were better than shellac and wax.

You might look through the archives of the Yahoo Penturners and see when the first message about a CA finish appeared.

 

[fiferb]

I would speculate that someone was using it to fill a hole or crack and said, "hey, might as well cover the whole blank, wonder what that would look like".

 

[bgray]

Obviously, CA glue is used pretty widely for other turning applications besides a finish....like Russ said, it probably wasn't just one guy. I spose that turners all over just saw their bottle of CA sitting near the lathe and said, "what the heck?"

 

[Fangar]

Everyone knows that I invented it. Right after I invented the internet. []

Fangar

 

[Marc Phillips]

Originally posted by fiferb
<br />I would speculate that someone was using it to fill a hole or crack and said, "hey, might as well cover the whole blank, wonder what that would look like".

That's exactly how I started using it... on a small bowl... Liked it []

 

[RussFairfield]

I may be wrong, but I think the reason why CA started being used as a finish sometime around 1990 was that was about the same time that the generic brands came on the market with a big reduction in price and available in larger bottles. We mow accept $12 for a 4-ounce bottle as being. That used to be the price for a 1/2-ounce bottle.

 

[wdcav1952]

Originally posted by Fangar
<br />Everyone knows that I invented it. Right after I invented the internet. []

Fangar

OMG!, you are Al Gore?!?!?!?!?[]

 

[DocStram]

Originally posted by Fangar
<br />Everyone knows that I invented it. []

Fangar

That it explains it! Just the other day I was at Highland Hardware and I asked the clerk for CA glue. She replied, "You must mean Fangar Glue, don't ya?" [:0]

 

[Blind_Squirrel]

Originally posted by Fangar
<br />Everyone knows that I invented it. Right after I invented the internet. []

Fangar

Pleased to meet you Mr. Gore! []

 

[dfurlano]

http://web.mit.edu/INVENT/iow/coover.html

 

[Fangar]

Gore and I have nothing in common, unless you count or love of the turning frock!

[]

Fangar

 

[RussFairfield]

The image of Al Gore dressed in a police uniform makes me think more of Buford T. Justice than Fangar.

 

[wdcav1952]

Originally posted by RussFairfield
<br />The image of Al Gore dressed in a police uniform makes me think more of Buford T. Justice than Fangar.

Russ,

Just curious, what does the image of Fangar being sworn in as Vice President do to your mind?!? []