CA not sticking

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ryankelley

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Nov 22, 2008
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46
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chicago
Recently I have been having a problem with CA not sticking to my blanks, I will turn, sand and start my finishing with BLO burnished in. I then start with a couple coats of thin then apply 4 or 5 coats of thick. Here is where the problem starts, when I begin to MM (wet) I can see that the finish is starting to disappear either from the whole blank or only in certain spots. I have tried sanding down and starting over, or just applying more CA but neither works. These blanks are not stabilized or oily woods. I am lost.
 
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Slow down and try to sand your wood to 400 or 600 grit. If you decide to put BLO on make sure it dries and any excess is wiped off. put a couple layers of Thin CA down first, use CA kicker to make sure it is set then go to the Med CA. I would be careful with thick it will take some time to dry between coats unless you kick it. I usually wait for a min of 8-10 coats before I consider MM usually I dont MM I go straight to Mothers mag polish.
 
I've had a similar sounding problem... it was almost like sections of the CA just didnt stick very well, and poof... bald spot.. ;)

I found that a quick, light coat of BLO followed by a coat of thin CA, hit it with accelerator, then 3 or 4 coats of medium with accelerator between each coat did the trick.. of course, YMMV, but it seems to have worked for me...

i usually smooth out the finish with some #0000 steel wool, then skip up to about 3200 and MM from there to 12000, a couple seconds each colour with the lathe running at turning speed...
 
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In my opinion, you have possible two problems.

BLO will, in some cases prevent great adhesion and will particularly create situations whereby CA "lift" happens on the ends.

You said you are sanding through, - that is not a BLO problem but a case of too thin of a layer of CA, too aggressive sanding or in the case of spots - off center/out of round blanks.

Too thin of a layer of CA can occur when too much pressure is applied in applying the CA.

Too aggressive sanding can cause two problems: 1. sanding through too quickly and 2. in the case of some woods, the "soft" parts of the grain sand faster than the hard parts of the grain, which in turn will cause the high spots to be sanded through when the CA is applied. We are talking about .01 to .008 or so differences.

Out of round blanks, off center bushings, mismatching centers by even a minuscule will cause results similar to what has been mentioned in the above paragraph. With high spots and low spots, the CA is sanded off in the high spots.
 
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airborne_r6 said:
I have the exact same issue, BLO causing the CA to lift off. How do we keep it from happening?
Click to expand...

Don't use it. I was bogged down in work for a year and moving from Japan back to the US and out of pen turning for about 18 months. In this time, quite a number of people have joined in and seem to have the idea that BLO is a requirement. It is not. BLO does have some good properties in certain situations, but BLO adds another step and complication before the CA is mastered.

Some woods are naturally oily, so don't use BLO on them at all. And on some others, if the BLO is not cured, it can cause the CA to not adhere as well. It prevents the CA from soaking into the wood and you can have lift.

I do NOT use BLO on holly as it makes it look like old ivory; On Bloodwood, it will tint the color from a beautiful crimson to a slight burnt orange crimson. On some woods, It pops the grain and makes it come alive, IMO. But, I run the blank on the lathe for 30 to 45 seconds with a towel to heat, dry and cure the BLO.

But, as a whole, there is not a real need for BLO except as "that is the way I learned it". IF that is the way you learned to apply a CA finish, but it is causing problems on some woods, - then experiment with applying CA on that wood without the BLO.

There are times that I do use the BLO - in cooler weather when it takes the CA a minute or so to cure. BLO as a mild accelerant helps speed up the process in the cooler temps of 50° - 65°F. Otherwise, I will not use it in the CA application process.
 
I have found that allowing the CA to really dry longer makes a world of difference in it's final finish. I have also found that sanding with the lathe off gives a more even finish and only takes a few minutes longer, which is nothing if I don't have to redo the finish.
 
I have never used BLO, and have had no issues applying CA finishes. I think you'll be fine if you just go with CA.

Also, there are some good videos on YouTube showing how to apply a CA finish, which you might want to check out.
 
leehljp said:
airborne_r6 said:
I have the exact same issue, BLO causing the CA to lift off. How do we keep it from happening?
Click to expand...

Don't use it. I was bogged down in work for a year and moving from Japan back to the US and out of pen turning for about 18 months. In this time, quite a number of people have joined in and seem to have the idea that BLO is a requirement. It is not. BLO does have some good properties in certain situations, but BLO adds another step and complication before the CA is mastered.

Some woods are naturally oily, so don't use BLO on them at all. And on some others, if the BLO is not cured, it can cause the CA to not adhere as well. It prevents the CA from soaking into the wood and you can have lift.

I do NOT use BLO on holly as it makes it look like old ivory; On Bloodwood, it will tint the color from a beautiful crimson to a slight burnt orange crimson. On some woods, It pops the grain and makes it come alive, IMO. But, I run the blank on the lathe for 30 to 45 seconds with a towel to heat, dry and cure the BLO.

But, as a whole, there is not a real need for BLO except as "that is the way I learned it". IF that is the way you learned to apply a CA finish, but it is causing problems on some woods, - then experiment with applying CA on that wood without the BLO.

There are times that I do use the BLO - in cooler weather when it takes the CA a minute or so to cure. BLO as a mild accelerant helps speed up the process in the cooler temps of 50° - 65°F. Otherwise, I will not use it in the CA application process.
Click to expand...

I guess I should have been more clear with my original question. I dont use BLO as a part of my CA finish and I generally have no problems with a CA finish.

The only time that I use BLO is to "pop" the grain. I have done some pens where the finished pen seems dead and lifeless even though I am using a beautiful wood. I found that applying BLO first gave me the look I was after but that my finish was lifting on only these pens.

I will try curing the BLO first before moving to the CA to see if that helps.
 
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