CA finish is starting to show "discolored/wet" ends after wet sanding and polishing.

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jeffambs03

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I have been finishing my pens with CA glue. Recently, I've started noticed a "discoloring" after I finish wet sanding and polishing. It looks like the wood got wet from wet sanding. In the thumbnails, the cedar blanks, the discoloring is on the ends. However with a purple heart blank, I noticed discoloring in the middle and the ends, but it is more of a gray hue.

I don't the see "discoloring" when I initially apply CA glue but only after I wet sand the blanks. which makes me think I'm doing something different/"wrong" with wet sanding. I sand the blank with 600 grit, then apply 6 layers of thin CA glue, spraying with an activator after each coat. Then I switch to wet sanding. Start with 600 grit wet sand paper with a light touch. Then 400, 600, 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 wet sanding sponge. I started soaking the sponges in a bowl of water before using. Maybe the sponges are too wet?

Thanks for any suggestions :)
 

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Try to seal your ends with a little CA before you sand. This will help prevent the edges from pulling away from the wood, which allows sanding grit to enter under your CA from wet sanding. At least this is what I think happened.

Sealing the ends of a finished pen blank

Many people do not do this step and I encourage you to develop this habit. People will touch your pen and they will put sweat in the junction between the hardware and your newly beautiful blank. To avoid this problem, I sand the ends, and then I seal them with thin CA glue.
www.penturners.org
 
I am assuming you are using the same square sponge micro mesh that I've been using for eons. I haven't found a need to sand CA finished wood blanks. I only wet sand plastic/acrylic blanks. I dont generally CA finish acrylic blanks. FWIW
 
Mortalis said:
I am assuming you are using the same square sponge micro mesh that I've been using for eons. I haven't found a need to sand CA finished wood blanks. I only wet sand plastic/acrylic blanks. I dont generally CA finish acrylic blanks. FWIW
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I bought the pads on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C3Q8Q4C5?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1. The pads worked on other pens with no issues. My last three pens have had the "staining" issue, wasn't sure if it was because I had the pads soaking in a bowl before I used them. Guess, I'll sand the blanks back down, seal the ends, then CA finish.
 
Jeff, I stopped wet sanding CA on wood blanks several years ago due to exactly this issue. I now sand with Abranet to 400, 600, or 800 depending upon the look and feel after 400. I then use Micromesh sheets (not the little square pads) -- all nine grits and finish up with Magic Juice and microcrystaline wax. I get a solid finish and no ruined blanks/pens.
 
jeffambs03 said:
I bought the pads on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C3Q8Q4C5?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1. The pads worked on other pens with no issues. My last three pens have had the "staining" issue, wasn't sure if it was because I had the pads soaking in a bowl before I used them. Guess, I'll sand the blanks back down, seal the ends, then CA finish.
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Jeff you are running into situations that we all have at one time or other. The responses to seal the ends is a correct one. You want to do this before wet sanding because water can wick up under the CA and cause the cracking of the CA on the ends. When sading try not to round over those ends because you will sand away the protection. If this happens just dab a little more on there.

As far as the purple heart goes. It looks like not enough layers of CA were applied and you may have sanded through it. Also with Purple heart it will have a tendency to be a dull color when first turrned and sanded. Then over time with UV light it will start to turn more deeper purple. So to me it looks like a sand through.
 
I seal the ends prior to turning, I always wet sand with micro mesh no matter what the blank is, but I only apply a couple drops of water to the cloth backed micromesh. Just enough to keep the surface of the micromesh wet, not dripping. Never had a problem.
 
JohnU said:
I seal the ends prior to turning, I always wet sand with micro mesh no matter what the blank is, but I only apply a couple drops of water to the cloth backed micromesh. Just enough to keep the surface of the micromesh wet, not dripping. Never had a problem.
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Sounds like I add too much water to my pads and didn't seal the ends. Double whammy. Need to make adjustments.
 
Sealing the ends is what fixed it for me. I simply fold up a piece of paper towel to use as a blotter, drip a few drops of thin CA on it, then push the pen blank down onto it and twist it back and forth a couple of times, let it dry a little while and then repeat a couple of times.

I started doing this because I was occasionally having adhesion problems with my CA finish on the ends. I would get a separation that looked like the gray-ish spot that is clearly visible in your first picture. It was caused by air between the finish and the blank. Sealing the ends seems to have fixed the problem for me so it just became part of my standard CA and GluBoost regimen. - Dave
 
jeffambs03 said:
I bought the pads on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C3Q8Q4C5?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1. The pads worked on other pens with no issues. My last three pens have had the "staining" issue, wasn't sure if it was because I had the pads soaking in a bowl before I used them. Guess, I'll sand the blanks back down, seal the ends, then CA finish.
Click to expand...
These are the pads I use. Starting at 1500 is coarse enough. Starting with 400 is just adding more work than you need.
 
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