CA Crystalizing

[BeSquare]

So luckily this pen was only a test and not a gift for someone this year, it's the first rollerball I've tried to make. It's a newport black titanium kit from rockler and a blank of Wenge, which I was really drawn to because of the great grain on it and I thought it would look great with the darker pen hardware.

After doing a lot of reading here I tried 2 new things on this pen, it is the first pen I've turned between centers, which was SO nice. I was really happy with the shape as I finished turning it and moved on through the finishing process I usually use with wood. 300-600 dry sanding to get the shape smooth, which went fine, then I decided to try a CA finish and I'm not sure where I went wrong. I did 4 light coats of medium CA letting it cure for about 4-5 minutes between each and smoothing it out with small strips of Bounty towel. Then I did about 10 coats of instant CA. After that I Micro Mesh wet sanded all the way through the series.

At the end after it dried there were tiny white crystals formed in voids I couldn't even see before and couldn't feel before I started with the finish. I'm wondering if the CA cured too fast crystalized and pushed out the voids? Or maybe it wasn't 100% cured when I used the micromesh and that's dust in there.

Any ideas? And thanks in advance for the help!

 

[bmlewis]

Did you seal the ends with CA as well? Looks almost like some moisture wicked underneath your finish when you were wet sanding

 

[NotURMailman]

I can't offer any advise, but I can say I used to have that problem. Since I started cleaning the barrels with DNA and stopped using thin CA I haven't. I don't know which of those helped, or if it was neither.

Nice job on the turning!

 

[mrcook4570]

That appears to be sanding dust (from sanding the CA) in the voids. The best way to avoid that is by filling the voids completely with a slurry of thin CA and sanding dust that is created by sanding the bottom of the blank with the lathe running while drizzling thin CA on the blank. That will completely fill all voids. Then apply the finish.

 

[Monty]

That appears to be sanding dust (from sanding the CA) in the voids. The best way to avoid that is by filling the voids completely with a slurry of thin CA and sanding dust that is created by sanding the bottom of the blank with the lathe running while drizzling thin CA on the blank. That will completely fill all voids. Then apply the finish.

I have to agree with Stan, you got sanding dust in the minute voids of the wood that did not fill with CA. You might try using a small brush like a toothbrush and see if you can clean it out. If not, you will most likely have to sand it completely down to the wood and refinish.

 

[BeSquare]

Thanks for the tips, going to try this out this weekend and see how my result is with the second blank I purchased. I think I have just enough to do a Sierra as well and try the finishing ideas.

- Rich

 

[mywoodshopca]

I always wipe the wood blanks down with acetone before applying any finish.

This gets rid of oil from fingerprints, excess moisture and wood oils.

I use the acetone sometimes to remove the old CA if I need to refinish.

I had ran out of acetone so tried without it, one was kingwood and the other was walnut, had white spots on both of them, went and got some acetone and refinished.. They turned out great after that.

 

[plantman]

Did you use excellorater between coats of CA ?? Looks like the Ca was not fully cured before the next coat was applyed. This will give you that crazed look. I don't think this is sawdust because that usualy shows up as small spots, or short lines. Just ideas from my not so great finishes.. Merry Christmas to all !!!! Jim S

 

[BeSquare]

I'll post pictures later, but it looks like this one was caused by it not being fully cured between coats. I did it again and it turned out perfect.

Thanks for the info all!

 

[Phillikl]

I've seen this on about the first 10 pens I attempted with CA. Come to find out, the accelerator I was using was junk. Got rid of it and went with stickfast and cleared that problem up. Another think that was is HUGE is CA and heat; heat can actually cause the CA to return to a liquid state underneath the outside coating, causing all kinds of crazy things to happen (all of which are not too appealing to the eye).

Merry Christmas!

~Kendall