CA Finish Woes

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BigguyZ

BigguyZ

Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2007
Messages
764
Location
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
OK, so I never had too much of a problem doing a CA finish, but recently I've had issue after issue. I turned a few wood pens about 1/100" past the needed diameter. So, in trying to build a CA finish up the the needed size (or past, rather, so I can sand back down to exact diameter), I keep running into tims were some tiny particles are getting into the finish, or- more commonly- I'm getting white spots or a haze in the finish. I'm not sure what the white spots are, but it's not anything I'm adding to the process.

Anyways, it's getting rather frustrating, since I have several wood pens, and I'm just not able to get a good wood finish as of late (just getting into things after stopping for a year or so).

At this rate, I may just stick with acrylics! Or Trustone or something like that. Too bad I have a ton of nice wood blanks to use...
 
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Don't sand in between coats. Only sand after your last coats. That should stop any particle from being embedded.

If your getting a haze, it could be caused by a number of factors, but the #1 is using accelerator on a heavy coat of CA.
 
All accellerators are NOT created equal.

I HAD a great one, I am now experimenting with replacing it. (The company went out of business)

Current prognosis: Monty's Black cap spritzer is working well, have not yet tried the other (white cap). But, it is too early to make a firm statement on this.
 
BigguyZ said:
I've used accelerator lots of times without problems. So are you advising not to use an accelarator at all? How long with the CA take to cure on it's own?
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I used to use an accelerator, but now I just use thin CA.

I start by holding my viva towel under the left bushing and apply the CA at the intersection of the barrel and the towel. Then swipe the towel and CA bottle across the blank. By the time I get to the other side of the blank, the paper towel is smoking, sticking to my fingers and burning. I am also usually cursing by this time trying to pick off the last piece of papertowel still burning to my fingers. :biggrin: Sometimes I get it just right though and get my finger off the paper towel before it sticks and burns.

I do it between 3 and 5 times and then start sanding with 400 grit sandpaper up to 12000 MM
 
the white particles are most likely the ca dust which you created and sealed under the next coat. Sucks at it may, you should be able to sand back down to the wood and re-do the finish, being careful to clean each time you sand before the next coat.
 
BigguyZ said:
Does CA actually go bad?? If so, I have a few bottes to replace (3, to be exact).

I'm using the FastCap aerosol accelerator. Not having any issues.
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Yes, CA does go bad. Anytime I start having issues with my CA finish (white spots, hazing, etc.) I switch to new CA and my issues magically go away.

I don't make that many pens recently so I've switched to using the 0.5 oz bottles from Manny to keep the CA in my shop and the rest of the 8 oz bottles are kept in the back of the fridge. That way if the CA goes bad, I've only lost a tiny bit. If the bottle gets all crusty, I can toss it and use a new bottle, they're cheap.

I use CA glue from Manny but aerosol accelerator from woodturningz. 2 coats thin, 2 coats thick (typically) with accelerator (from about 2' away) after each of the thick coats, no sanding between coats. It gives me good, consistent results in not much time.
 
jleiwig said:
Don't sand in between coats. Only sand after your last coats. That should stop any particle from being embedded.

If your getting a haze, it could be caused by a number of factors, but the #1 is using accelerator on a heavy coat of CA.
Click to expand...

Agree - I usually do 10-12 coats of thin (I've done as many as 25 on wood/resin mixed blanks, like Eugene's banksia pod blanks), no more than 3 drops per coat, use of puff of Woodturningz accelerant between each coat but no sanding until done with all coats. Just can't find a reason to sand between coats, and there definitely is high risk of getting something embedded otherwise.
 
Well, I have great news! I slowed down the lathe, used thin CA rather than thick or medium, and viola! worked like a charm. It was the old CA too... I might replace the thick and medium bottles, as they're pretty gunked up anyways. But yeah, I had a piece of canarywood in there, applied with my glove/ finger. Built up two coats of CAm sanded through to 12000MM, and it was 7 or 8 thousands short of the nib. So, I reapplied the thin CA directly onto the finished barrel. Again, two or three heavy coats of thin, and I was only 2 or 3 thousandths away when I was through all steps.

I'll knock on wood (I have plenty of it), but it was quick, easy, and I didn't have any issues with the far application being too rough and having to sand a lot. Looks great! Too bad I don't have a camera that can do Macro shots (one of the many things on my list), bit I'll try to get a picture soon. (Though I'll be busy the next few nights).

The nice thing about the thin CA, I could continually make a pass with my finger while it was still wet to smooth the surface. That way, I got nice, even coverage from side to side.

Thanks for the help! I'm excited to do some wood blanks again (I have about 18 pens turned to final dimensions, and they just need a finish).
 
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