Best paper towel for CA finish

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tomovacs

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Feb 11, 2016
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Hi Guys
Can anyone tell me the best sort of paper towel to use for a CA finish, I think I have used every make of white paper towel and keep getting the little flects of white in the CA, I have read here some where that blue workshop towel is the best, I have seen SCOT BLUE WORK SHOP TOWEL sold in halfords and notice its make in USA, any one know if this will be any good.
Thanks guys any help will be most welcome.
Tomovacs
 
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jrecord

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I use polyethylene gloves and polyethylene batting. CA does not react at all to polyethylene. That is what they use for CA bottles.
I cut a small piece of the batting and use it to apply the CA. See http://youtu.be/j6I6lQM1yls for a description of using the batting.
 

robertkulp

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I get the Scott Box of Rags from Sam's Club. I cut them into strips and fold them over to make a pad for application. It works very well for me.
 

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TonyW

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I recently tried the 20 coats of thin CA method as used by David from Timberbits in his YouTube video, with a fresh small piece of towelling per coat. Actually it was the two ends of 10 pieces for 20 fresh ends but close enough. This was with a light spray of activator between coats btw. I used a roll of blue towelling that I bought somewhere here in the UK, probably either Aldi or B&M, and the only problem I had was on one coat where instead of a single rub in each direction I tried two or three and the paper stuck, and so had to sand back down to virtually bare wood. It was only either the third or fourth coat I'd ever applied like this so part of the learning curve. I started again and did the whole 20 coats without mishap, left the CA to sure overnight and then wet sanded with MM to a flawless glass like finish.

Tony Wells, in Leeds.

PS, I used the thin watery CA from PoundWorld, three small 10gm plastic bottles on a card for £1, and as I said above, a flawless finish. I suspect that being so thin helped as it did spread very easily and thus had less chance to grab the paper.
 

TonyW

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PPS

PPS, I remember the blue towelling only being £1 for a jumbo roll, though it is quite thin. I therefore probably bought it from either B&M or one of the Pound shops, maybe PoundLand. It is quite smooth with less fuzz than supermarket kitchen towelling.
 

farmer

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Paper towel

My ( theory ) or thought is that white paper towels ( help ) activate the CA faster.

I use the Blue Scott paper towels...
 

rudya7

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Dec 28, 2008
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New Jersey
I use a small square, cut from a white cotton t-shirt, folded 2 or 3 times. With some woods, like Cocobolo, The CA reacts with the cotton and gets hot, sometimes hot enough to smoke, within 10 seconds or so of application. This forces me to move quickly and not over apply the CA. Never throw the small rag soaked with CA in the trash, it's a fire hazard. I use those small metal magnetic bowls that they give away at HF to hold the rag until its safe to dispose of.
 

Hawkdave

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As ridiculous as this sounds, it really does work. I use the blow your nose on the tissue to see if it is suitable for CA application.
If you blow your nose on any tissue and it leaves white bits around your nose, then it is not suitable for CA finishing. Any tissue that passes the 'blow your nose test' makes for a suitable tissue for CA finishing.

No funny quips will be entered into. :biggrin:

Dave.
 

JimB

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As ridiculous as this sounds, it really does work. I use the blow your nose on the tissue to see if it is suitable for CA application.
If you blow your nose on any tissue and it leaves white bits around your nose, then it is not suitable for CA finishing. Any tissue that passes the 'blow your nose test' makes for a suitable tissue for CA finishing.

No funny quips will be entered into. :biggrin:

Dave.

I hope you start with a fresh tissue when doing the ca finish:eek:
 

Edgar

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I do exactly what Chuck (dalecamino) does & I pretty much arrived at that approach by trial & error.

I experimented with a number of CA application techniques - craft foam, plastic baggies & both sides of all kinds of blue & white towels - the back side of white Bounty select-a-size towels is what works best for me. As you can see though, there are a number of possibilities and each has its proponents. My recommendation is to try a few techniques & see what works best for you.
 

farmer

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CA

I used CA and lighter fluid on my last project .
The first 4 or 5 coats ,
then just medium CA blue paper towel

 

Hawkdave

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As ridiculous as this sounds, it really does work. I use the blow your nose on the tissue to see if it is suitable for CA application.
If you blow your nose on any tissue and it leaves white bits around your nose, then it is not suitable for CA finishing. Any tissue that passes the 'blow your nose test' makes for a suitable tissue for CA finishing.

No funny quips will be entered into. :biggrin:

Dave.

I hope you start with a fresh tissue when doing the ca finish:eek:


I knew I would get at least one.:biggrin:

Once you have done the test, you can use that tissue brand all the time.

Jim, it could be worse than sticking boogers to your pen, if you blew your nose on it after applying the CA, then you are in real trouble.:frown:

Dave.
 

efrulla

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I must be terribly lucky or terribly skilled (leaning toward lucky). I use Bounty select a size but I never tear them. I always cut them with a pair of EMS shears. I have yet to get any of the paper towels into the CA
 

edman2

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What?? 21 responses and no one stood up for Viva! Where are all the old timers that remember the paper towel wars of years past? lol Makes me feel white headed!:biggrin:
 

jttheclockman

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What?? 21 responses and no one stood up for Viva! Where are all the old timers that remember the paper towel wars of years past? lol Makes me feel white headed!:biggrin:

From one of the old timers:

I use Viva for polishing. I also use walmart blue shop towels found in the auto dept. for CA and cut with scissors in 1" strips. Fold over after each coat. Could not be any simpler. I use Satellite City Hot Stuff CA. To me the best CA on the market. I apply 2 to 3 coats of thin CA. Followed by 5 to 6 coats of med CA. I wet sand with MM and then I polish with Micro-Gloss and top coat with Micro-Finish. Have been doing this for over 10 years and have no failures and no scratches and no complaints.

How is that for summing things up. Will have to bookmark this so every time the question comes up I can refer back to it. :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
 

leehljp

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What?? 21 responses and no one stood up for Viva! Where are all the old timers that remember the paper towel wars of years past? lol Makes me feel white headed!:biggrin:

Wow Freddie! I just found email from you going back to 2007.

I remember the Viva and other blue towel wars! :)
 

tomovacs

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Guys thanks very much for your replies, tried the scott blue towel last night perfect, will never use anything else.
Many thanks
Tomovacs
 

lyonsacc

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Apparently I follow what dalecamino and edohmann do (Bounty select a sheet).

And I have just been reeducated as to why . . .

I've only been able to make 10 or so pens in the past year due to one reason or another. So I have been using the same roll of paper towels since 2014. That being said, I have a specially requested pen that NEEDS to be finished by this coming Wednesday. I got back in the shop last week to put a finish on this pen and couldn't find my paper towels, so I went and grabbed a roll from upstairs. I put on the CA finish and noticed that the surface was much rougher than usual and didn't look right. Tried to micromesh the finish to a nice shine and had little holes all the way back to the blank. So I had to sand it back down and restart the finish. Turns out my wife switched brands sometime last year. I made a special trip to the store yesterday to pick up 2 rolls of Bounty.
 

TonyW

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Just in case you can't find the blue Scott Towels again, it was Morrisons' 'Mighty Giant' All Purpose Wiper that I used, although Poundland also sell something similar called 'Moppit'. The Morrisons in particular is heavily rolled before winding onto the roll, and so is quite bit-free.

Tony Wells.
 

Dalecamino

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I think that war was still raging when I first joined IAP or, was winding down. I honestly don't recall for sure. I remember watching a CA finish video in which the instructor said he uses strips of batting material with masking tape wrapped around one end. So, I go driving around town looking for some batting material :redface:. Ended up finding some at a fabric store 15 miles from my house. :laugh: I spent some time making up some of these handy strips and, went thru all of them pretty quickly. They worked ok. When I was reading about the different posts about applying CA, I discovered some were using Viva, some were using the Blue towels and, some were using Bounty. Bounty?? I have 12 rolls of that stuff in my pantry :biggrin: Let's try it out!!:wink:

I have no reason to try anything else. Thanks Don! :wink:
 

D.Oliver

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I'm team "Bounty", though I've used the Brawny paper towels with the lumberjack on them too and have gotten good results. They might only work on wood pens though..........
 
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Dalecamino

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TonyW

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This link is to a video by Cap'n Castellin, where he uses CA to finish a bowl! Of note is that he uses WHITE paper towelling!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed4H3eBzxQo
Of more import though is that like the Timberbits video he just gives a single wipe with thin CA, building up the coats until he gets the finish he wants. I've used the Timberbits method, all 20 coats of thin CA, and used a single left to right to left wipe, just using the paper towelling to spread the CA evenly for each coat, not trying to burnish it until the end, so that the CA doesn't get chance to be heated by the friction of the towel and so start to grab it.

Morrison's blue towelling is just as effective as the Scott towelling btw, and only £2.44 for a "Giant" roll btw!

TonyW
 
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Alexandria VA
Hi Guys
Can anyone tell me the best sort of paper towel to use for a CA finish, I think I have used every make of white paper towel and keep getting the little flects of white in the CA, I have read here some where that blue workshop towel is the best, I have seen SCOT BLUE WORK SHOP TOWEL sold in halfords and notice its make in USA, any one know if this will be any good.
Thanks guys any help will be most welcome.
Tomovacs
I had a great discussion about this last night with the folks from Starbond. They are sending me a bottle of their CA to try out, as I have been using CA from both Penn State Industries and Craft USA. I first started trying out CA using shop cloth and paper towels, as I had sen videos show. However, I have found greater success and less frustration using the little baggies that the pen parts come in. Those tiny little baggies are made of polyethylene, just like Ziploc bags are (which you can also use, and I have - sandwich bags are small and easy to either manipulate or cut down to smaller pieces). I simply use the food service polyethylene gloves to protect my hands from excess, then slip the little baggie over my finger and drip the CA either directly onto the wood or directly onto the baggie and use light pressure to spread the CA across the surface evenly. Hope that helps.
 

TonyL

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Whatever my wife buys (on sale) or I "stick" in my auto dispenser. I cannot discern a difference, but others can. If I was getting lint, I would change brands. Is it possible that you are allowing the pt to make contact with the CA too long and the CA is starting to cure?
 

Woodchipper

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I use whatever is on sale at Aldi's or Food City. I have used two or three brands and don't see any difference. I use the half sheets, cut it in half, fold it into thirds and put CA on each corner. Four corners= four coats. That way I can count the coats without taking off my shoes. I marked the hex nut on the mandrel with a Sharpie- had a habit of manually turning the blank too many times and getting a streaked coat. Two turns and I'm done. Works for me. If you want a lint-free paper, use coffee filters. Used them for custom fishing rods. Oh yes, I use HF nitrile gloves.
 

jttheclockman

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An old thread revived. But the results are the same. Just methods that work for you. Not that they are right or wrong but work for you. I still use the blue shop towels and it works for me and have done a few pens using this. Glad you found something that works for you. Good luck and see you in the next thread where you have a problem getting a good CA finish. We all been there and done that so do not forget to wear those yellow socks.:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
 

Sataro

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Scott's blue paper towels for me. I must be lazy though. I read these different methods of cutting the paper towels into squares. I just fold the sheet till it is about one inch wide strip & then I can get about 8-10 coats of thin ca before I get to the end of the paper strip.
 
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Dehn0045

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I was going to try the craft foam, but didn't really know what I was looking for and ended up getting open cell polyurethane foam sheets. I tried it and really like it. The open cell does soak up a little CA, but not near as much as paper towels. I like to use thin CA, the foam doesn't react and really increases my working time. I cut in 1" x 1" x 1/4" squares and get 4 applications out of each square. I was going to try craft foam, but like this stuff so much I don't see a reason to try anything else.

https://www.hobbylobby.com/Fabric-S...llow-Forms/Poly-Foam-Pads---12"-x-12"/p/36735
 
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