Cloven
Member
The pens I've done so far, I've used a thin CA I get from a local hobby store. It's the consistency of water, it goes on really easily, but I only have maybe 2 seconds before it's set. I use a thick CA for gluing in my tubes because it gives me maybe 10 seconds to get the tube in before it starts to grab. The 50 cal pen I recently posted, I finished that with the thick CA because it was so porous, I wanted something that would fill it and maybe make something a little more even. I did my normal routine of 8 layers with a blast of accelerant between, then MM wet sand. The finish cured just fine, no clouding, no cracking, nice and glossy, but when I look at the shine line, I can tell that the surface is uneven. When I would finish with the thin CA, the shine line is perfectly even and you can feel it's a uniform surface.
My question is, when one finishes with thick CA, should you wet sand with 400-1000 grit sandpaper before then moving onto MM? Because it's so thick, it doesn't naturally flow out like the thin does. If I wet sand with black 400, I could see that would smooth it out, but would it scratch it up too much to polish out in the higher grits?
My question is, when one finishes with thick CA, should you wet sand with 400-1000 grit sandpaper before then moving onto MM? Because it's so thick, it doesn't naturally flow out like the thin does. If I wet sand with black 400, I could see that would smooth it out, but would it scratch it up too much to polish out in the higher grits?