BLO/CA help/advisement please (new guy)

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L1Truckie

L1Truckie

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Hope everyones day is going well! Here is my my lead up to my problem. Im a new turner, 3 pens, 2 wood and 1 acrylic. The wood ones looked great with Mylars FP! But I know I wanted more than that. So I tried Williams BLO CA method with a segmented knot?? celtic knot??. (nothing like diving right into failure :rolleyes:) The knot turned out ok..but needs inprovement.

What I end up with is some shiny spots in the pen consistently (maybe a 30/70 split, like I kind of splattered some good finish on there with my finger when the lathe was running). I have worked and reworked this pen (sanded back down to wood about 12 times) and tried varying some things IE less/more CA, less/more BLO, low/high Lathe speed, rub faster/slower, fold/dont fold the towell over. This has been a 3 day project with the same results (more or less) each time. The weather and humidity have changed some to in these days. (Mid to upper 70's varying humidity, even rain this morning) While feeling the pen after its done I do notice a very even "plasticy" feel that Ive read about with CA finishes. I also dont notice any ridges. It feels great just looks odd.

Ive dubbed this my "practice pen" since its not going on a kit (now). And Im not looking for an overnight miracle. I know it takes time and patience and there are alot of ways to do a CA finish. I dont mind working hard to get a good result. It seemed quite a few had success with this way (right wrong or indifferent) I will try some different ways but thought I would at least try to build off of Williams way to start with until i get one method down.

I was just wondering if there is something as a new guy that Im obviously missing. Or maybe ya'll have come across this before in your works. I just need a push in the right direction here if ya'll dont mind. Thanks!!!

update and fyi: Its a walnut blank with a cherry knot. Looks like an uneven shine almost (more shiny "splatters" than other places) just tried it two more times
 
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Put two drops of BLO on your folded paper towel and make a single pass on the wood. I run at 1800 rpm and hold the towel on one end of the blank and start dripping medium CA along the length of the wood and start rubbing like mad. The CA will start to burn your nose and it will start getting hard to rub. When it is very easy to rub again, you are done. Put on another coat and then polish with a plastic rub and your finished.
 
Levi, if I may add my 2 cents here. Try putting the first coat on as CA only and let dry. After it has dried and if it has ridges then lightly sand. Then the next coats apply whatever method you chose. The first coat is the seal coat. Not sure if this will help.
 
What type of wood is giving you the trouble? Some woods (especially oily ones)
don't take a CA finish too well..
 
Walnut Blank

Here is a pic (if I uploaded correctly) (no im not a photographer :) )

Yay, my first pic! Its a walnut blank (scrap from a cabinet shop). You can see some good glassy shine but other parts are more of a matte finish. And its random, not where I just held pressure in one spot longer than the other.

Thanks again and in advance!
 

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Well, I am going to go in another direction. Sometimes there comes a pen that just does not want to be finished right! :biggrin: I am not kidding. I get one like that every 6 months or so. I will spend a two or three hours on it and give up. I can make a dozen after it just fine and then go back to that one and . . . another hour or two and still not perfect! Several, many more just fine but that one pen . . .

Sometimes out of round, vibration, too much pressure on the tail stock, unsquared blanks (cause wobble) - all of these can cause off center/out of round to the extent that sanding will be heavier in spots which will cause sand through. Sometimes oily woods will cause dulling of the CA in spots when the CA is thinly coating the wood.

Not sure if these help, but I did want to mention them.
 
L1Truckie said:
Yay, my first pic! Its a walnut blank (scrap from a cabinet shop).
Click to expand...

Hmm... is this scrap new? unused? Is it possible that it was part of
something else before? Is it possible that there is some sort of finish in the
wood already that might be interfering with the CA adhesion?

Just wondering ..and throwing out ideas.
 
Thank you ALL for your input so far! After trying a few other things I think im going with Lee's idea to just try practicing on some other blanks and scrap to see if I get the same results.

New London, thanks for the brainstorming, believe me it helps :) Its cutoffs from walnut cabinets, new, unused and no finish.

I also read in the forums somewhere "your finish is only as good as your sanding" so I think I will work that aspect as well. Thanks again guys!

Im still taking ideas as well :)
 
I had similar issued here is what I came up with when I did a serach.

I rub down with DNA to remove any oil first.
Some oils can be a issue.
I now use a sanding sealer or clear grain filler, sealse it and heck makes it smoother. I then sand with some 600 or whatever.
I coat with BLO
Next I use a really small drop of blo and ca and go throught The ca routine. Seems to work better for me.

I was getting fogging and dull spots, think it was to much BLO or the oil from the wood making the CA not stick well.

Also the plastic polish I use very lighly then buff when dry it seems to melt the CA on me if I use alot and cause issues.

Your first coat needds to be BLO only or so the color stays consistant, else I was getting color changes where the ca would hit then the blo if they where on the same rag.

Hope this helps.
 
I'm with Hank Lee on this one. It could be the wood, especially since it is Walnut and you got it from a scrap pile. Walnut can be a beggar to finish because it can be prone to spots of different penetration of the finish as a growth factor in the tree, too much heat from the sanding, bruising from the turning tool, waterspots from exposure to the weather, or any other contaminant that could have been in contact with it in the trash bin. The dark color of the wood accents minor differences in penetration of the finish. Cherry is also bad, and may be worse than Walnut, with its sensitivity to things that will change the penetration of the finish.
 
Well, here's my solution to your problem. I tried it a couple of days ago with some cherry that just wouldn't shine after a dozen or more coats of BLO/CA.

I just want to add here, More BLO is never the solution. My opinion and I'm welcome to it.

I put that surly pen blank back on the lathe at ~1800 RPM's and I wet mm'd it from 4,000 grade MM to 12,000 grade. Voila, it shone like a babies bum!

Here's the pen.

attachment.jpg
 

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I've had the same problem plenty of times with CA/BLO. :( I finally swapped to an Enduro finish, although I'll probably try some CA/BLO again in the future -- just not on cocobolo, way too oily!
 
bvanwie said:
just not on cocobolo, way too oily!
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Hi Bill; I'm not familiar at all with the Enduro finish you speak of.

Granted, cocobolo is very oily, but in no way impossible to finish with BLO/CA. Here's a Baron in cocobolo finished with BLO/CA.

attachment.jpg


It just required a good rub down with Acetone to remove the surface oils prior to finishing.
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I've also had great results with CA on cocobolo.. it just involves and extra step,
that's all. When you get a good CA finish on cocobolo (like Mack) the effect
is pretty impressive.
 
I know exactly what you are referring to. I would have the same problem with streaks of shiny and dull in random places along the blank. I got this with Cherry, Mesquite as well as padouk and could not for the life of me figure out what I was doing wrong. I am not certain if what I did was the problem but I stopped rubbing the pen with mineral spirits and also hit the pen with BLO alone for the first application and then a BLO/CA combination for every step after. I am still not getting the finish I am seeking but atleast I am getting an even spread across the pen blank now. I have a bethlahem olive wood blank that I have 10 coats on and still do not have a high gloss shine. The wood seems to soak up the BLO/CA like no tomorrow.

What I have learned from here, if anything is that no finish is right for every wood out there and every finish definitely has it's application. I am going to experiment with other finish techniques here on the board and will probably settle on whichever suits my needs as far as finish quality vs. time. experiment with the different finishes explained here on the boards and see what works best for you. You might also try using a sanding sealer on the blank first. I am giving that a shot tomorrow and seeing if that help me to get a more even and smooth BLO/CA application.

just my two cents.
 
Thank you all for your comments and remarks, this definitely gives me some room to work with and ideas! Unfortunately work, turkey hunting and crappie fishing has sidelined me just a tad on this but I will surely be back out in the shop this weekend to try some of these ideas. Thanks again guys!!!!!!

Edit: Credit for what I said about "your finish is only as good as your sanding" goes to RussFairfield, after reading his post I remembered I saw it on his webpage.
 
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