Teak Herringbone Stylus

[KDM]

This is a ballpoint, but the knob at the end isn't an eraser; it's a stylus for a touch-screen computer.

My first stab at herringboning. It's fiddly!



The finished article...



It did have a waterslide decal of one of those banana things on it, but even after 20 coats of CA, the damn thing wore off as soon as I hit it with the wet'n'dry paper.

 

[Drstrangefart]

I am impressed with the herringbone, I'm not patient enough to take a stab at it. Next time you try a decal, add a few coats of thin ca BEFORE putting the decal on, then add a lot of layers of medium. If you're good with the CA, you can apply medium on either side of the decal to bring everything close to flush. Sand it all smooth with 150 grit, add 2 coats of thin CA, sand it again with 320, a couplle more coats of thin CA, next 600, a couple more coats of thin CA, and you're ready to polish with micromesh as long as the surface of the CA is smooth all the way around. You may wanna practice by just slapping a sticker on a scrap pen barrel and getting the feel of it before takling a serious project. Took me 7 or 8 massive failures to get the results I was looking for on cigar labels.

 

[KDM]

Yep, I had it almost finished before I decided it needed a decal, so there was loads of CA on there already. Then I spent DAYS putting more CA over the top!

150 grit would have killed it! I damaged it as per the photo with a tiny touch of 600 grit!

Do you laquer your decals before applying them? How much laquer?

 

[Drstrangefart]

I don't. I just pile a LOT of layers of medium CA on top of them. Sometimes I'll run a few layers of thick, then sand them back down. I HAVE successfully embedded cigar labels under a smooth CA finish before. Could the decal issue have been that it reacted poorly to the CA that went down over it? Or the CA wasn't thick enough over the decal yet? I know mine has to be absurdly built up before I'm ready to sand anything down.

 

[KDM]

I suspect "absurd" is accurate. I don't think I've EVER put that much CA on a pen.
Must try again, but without the laquer. I suspect it's repelling the superglue.

 

[jaeger]

My suggestion would be to apply decal on top of the CA just like you did, and after you apply the decal use CA with BLO. Instead of using sand paper or micro mesh, use a polish to bring out the shine.

 

[Drstrangefart]

My suggestion would be to apply decal on top of the CA just like you did, and after you apply the decal use CA with BLO. Instead of using sand paper or micro mesh, use a polish to bring out the shine.

The sandpaper isn't to help shine, it's to bring the surface back to level or at least close enough to take over with the micromesh. Almost all decals create a bulge that you will bust into with the first micromesh pad if it isn't thick enough to handle the process. Paper decals then soak up the water and discolor quite a bit, and you have to scrub it to start over if you ever want it to look right.

 

[KDM]

Yeah. that's definitely where I went wrong. I thought I had used the world's entire supply of superglue and I still had this bulge.