Am I working too hard at this??

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Greg O'Sherwood

Greg O'Sherwood

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Joined
Oct 3, 2008
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655
Location
Indep, MO
Tonight is my first attempt at wood pens- I've done several acrylics and my finishing is fine on those, but the woods are a bit tougher.

I am currently sanding 150, 240, 320, 400 and 600. Then Micromesh 1,500 - 12,000. Then CA, 3 coats thin and 3 coats medium. Then the last three stages of MM again to smooth it a bit. Lastly, I am going through the 3 Beall stages.

My pens look good, but it seems a bit much.

Is there anything I can eliminate?

Maybe MM between coats of CA also?

Gregory of FinishingFanatic Forest

Thanks all!
 
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Sand the wood to 600.
Seal with one layer of thin CA.
Lay down one layer of medium CA.
Lay down another layer of medium CA.
Sand with the first grade of MM, cross sand, make the whole blank hazy.
Sand through all the MM (I use accelerator as a lubricant).
If you want, white diamond and naked buffer wheel.

Anything that is beyond that, for me, is unnecessary. Everyone is different, so what works for one may not work for another, so keep that in mind. But, I say drop the MMing the raw wood. Drop 2 coats of thin. Drop one of Medium or keep it. Start over with the MM. You can skip the first stage of the beall, if not the whole thing.
 
Greg O'Sherwood said:
Tonight is my first attempt at wood pens- I've done several acrylics and my finishing is fine on those, but the woods are a bit tougher.

I am currently sanding 150, 240, 320, 400 and 600. Then Micromesh 1,500 - 12,000. Then CA, 3 coats thin and 3 coats medium then wet sand with 1000 grit. Then the last three stages of MM again to smooth it a bit. Lastly, I am going through the 3 Beall stages.
Click to expand...

Try eliminating the items in red above and compare your finish after buffing to what you are doing now. I rarely sand above 600 and never sand wood above 1000 and stopped using micro mesh all together until recently on some ebonite. I have had no complaints with my CA finishes.

You mention the Beall three buff system. Usually that means tripoli, white diamond then carnuba wax. Personally I don't see the need to wax acrylic or a CA finish at all. I might apply a bit of Ren wax but that doesn't get buffed.
 
I am going to make about 10 more pens tomorrow and I'll try those suggestions. I have another question-

It seems I am glueing the bushings to the blanks during finishing with CA. Do I just cut them off with the skew, or wait until I take them off the mandrel and use a razor blade?

Gregory of IHaveTooManyQuestionsSorry Forest
 
I use an exacto knife with my lathe set to the lowest speed or turn by hand. A wide blade works best as it has less flex. I then sand the ends until the brass tube shines backup to get a good fit.

Mr Vic
 
Mr Vic said:
I use an exacto knife with my lathe set to the lowest speed or turn by hand. A wide blade works best as it has less flex. I then sand the ends until the brass tube shines backup to get a good fit.

Mr Vic
Click to expand...

Never !!!! Never !!!! use an exacto knife with the lathe running even at low speeds . If the blade should catch and pull out of the handle it can get flung at high speed and could do damage to you .
Turning the lathe by hand is the best idea .

The best way to keep the CA off your bushings is to take them off and finish between centers , no bushings = no problems
 
ldb2000 said:
The best way to keep the CA off your bushings is to take them off and finish between centers , no bushings = no problems
Click to expand...

Then I wind up with CA on my centers, which can be a worse problem. I either use/make Delrin bushings or clean the steel bushings with acetone.

Marc
 
personally, I only applied CA twice without the bushings. I didn't like it the first time, and tried once more just to make sure. I don't like the idea of having to square the end off again after the CA is cured because it rounds over the edge. Seems like too much risk of it chipping off to me. I've never had a problem with the bushings "snapping" away after CA has been applied. Am I the only one?
 
marcruby said:
Then I wind up with CA on my centers, which can be a worse problem. I either use/make Delrin bushings or clean the steel bushings with acetone.

Marc
Click to expand...

This does happen but for me it is easier to remove the ca from the centers than it is to seperate the bushings from the blank and clean the ca off the bushings.

I keep a small jar (about the size of a baby food jar) filled with acetone. I place the center point down into it for about 30 seconds to 2 minutes depending on how much ca is on it. Then take a rag and wipe the ca off. Use a rag, not paper towel as I think the paper towel makes the ca cure again and does not remove it well. I don't do this every time, only when I get excess CA on the centers. I can always find something to do while they soak for the minute or two.
 
ldb2000 said:
The best way to keep the CA off your bushings is to take them off and finish between centers , no bushings = no problems
Click to expand...

I understand the theory behind this, but I don't think it works very well in practice. If you use bushings, the CA gets gummed up on/around the bushings. If you finish between centers, the CA gets gummed up at the point where the blanks meet the centers. The result is the same: gummed up CA mess at the ends of the blanks. There is marginally less trouble with finishing between centers, but it takes longer and you still have to figure out a reliable way to get the CA gunk off without screwing up the finish. I wish there was an easier way to get a durable finish on a pen. CA seems to be the best (at least in my short experience), but it's a pain in the butt.
 
Well I finish all my blanks this way now and have not had any problems with gumming up my centers (a little acetone cleans them right up even with paper towels) and as for the ends of the blank if the CA build up on the ends gets so bad as to be a problem a quick touch up with my sander mill or a couple of passes on a piece of sandpaper on my bandsaw table cleans them right up good as new .
As for better finishes , I have switched to Minwax fast dry Poly and so far I am quite impressed . It's not as fast as CA but the finish is much deeper then CA and should be as durable as CA .
 
jkeithrussell said:
...you still have to figure out a reliable way to get the CA gunk off without screwing up the finish....
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Would a pen mill done by hand work? Dale Johnson gave me a pen mill that he made a handle for. You can just spin in by hand and lightly remove the CA from the ends. Just a thought.
 
Butch: I humbly stand corrected on the use of an exacto knife and a turning lathe...My usual problem is removing the blades not keeping them in.
Skye: with the mill as is you stand a chanche of contacting a high spot and breaking it off..okay if it is paste the blank but a pain if on the blank. I've been useing the flat surface/sandpaper method as of late.
I've thought about but haven't tried turning the pen mill around on the pilot. You have a flat surface and can cut sandpaper discs to fit. A quick spritz of sprauy glue and you have a sander that will stay square.
 
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Mr Vic said:
You have a flat surface and can cut sandpaper discs to fit. A quick spritz of sprauy glue and you have a sander that will stay square.
Click to expand...

Hmmm.. in theory I guess I could make myself one of those on the lathe out of some glued up corian. Not a bad idea.
 
I've only done 1 pen CA finish that turned out, but I was doing a Euro and I just switched to slimline bushings for sanding/finishing (no dead-center, so I can't turn between centers, though I did adjust my mandrel to only be long enough for 1 barrel at a time). It won't help with a slimline, of course, but for larger pens I may just buy a sacrificial set of slimline bushings and let them get gunk on them... if it gets too bad I can follow someone else's advice of tossing them in a little jar of acetone for awhile.

-Rick
 
I have heard of folks waxing the bushings or putting some kind of jelly on to protect them but for me just snapping them off at the mandril has never been a problem

Wayne
 
New at pens, but not at wood finishing. Have tried the many methods other than micromesh, which I have but not used, but the simplest means so far is to ignore sanding and mm altogether. I use a sharp gouge to get the final micrometer diameters needed at the bushings, then polish with a sharp scraper, which gives as good a surface as I can achieve with grit (have 60 to 2000 grit paper). I then apply five coats minimum of instant CA, let harden well, followed by EEE polish, then Johnson floor wax which does not have a polishing agent, only wax. If the surface needs to be better than mirror achieved, I don't need it. And the figure sharpness in burl is outstanding. Am sure the well experienced might mutter blaspheme...but it works. Oh, I wax the bushings each time to make separation easier, having broken into the wood on one occasion during disassembly.
 
I very seldom get build up on the bushings and CA is the only finish I use. I apply a liberal amount of Boiled Linseed Oil on the pen and bushings after final sanding and prior to applying the first coat of CA. I wipe off the excess Boiled Linseed Oil and start with the CA finish process.

Remove the blanks from the mandrel and tap the bushings lightly on the tool rest and they should "pop" right off. I then put a small piece of sandpaper on the lathe bed and while holding the blank in a vertical position, scrape the ends along the sandpaper to clean up the edges. This method has worked for me a few hundred times.
 
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Chris Bar said:
I use a sharp gouge to get the final micrometer diameters needed at the bushings, then polish with a sharp scraper
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Some day I hope to have "mad skillz" like that ;). I presume you take off very little with the scraper since you've already turned to the correct diameter with your skew?

-Rick (who sadly still needs his grits, but now that he's lost his MM pads is considering trying regular paper and buffing instead)
 
Rick, get yourself some more MM. I doubt you're going to get the finish you want without it. It's hard stuff to replace, tripoli or no tripoli.
 
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