CA glue comes off the pen.

[peter1958]

Today i made a cat-pen and finished the blanks with CA.
When pressing in the coupler a little spot on the edge turned grey. After a while the spot was about 6 mm wide.
The wood i used was merbau, a little oily type of wood and i'm thinking the oil does that.
I peeled the CA of the pen and gave it a wax finish.
The wenge wood on the tip of the pen the glue came of just as easy

Is it the type of wood that causes this or is it by using medium CA with accelerator?

 

[jttheclockman]

Never heard of this wood but if it is oily you should wipe down with acetone before any top coat. I would use a couple coats of thin first and then switch to med. I never like accelerator so I do not use it. It flashes over the CA and makes it brittle in my opinion. Your CA could be old, it could be the wrong accelerator to mix with it, It could be oil under or moisture under, it could be wrong temp to finish in. So many factors could be a problem here. But being able to peel all off there is something not right for sure.

 

[leehljp]

Oily woods do not hold onto CA as much as non-oily woods. BUT, I can't imagine that you peeled the CA off of the whole pen. Usually CA will stick to some parts. Some people do manage to get CA to stick, but there are tricks or techniques that help.

Something is not quite adding up. When you said you "peeled", are you meaning by hand? Or do you mean you turned it off with the skew or scraper, or sanded the CA off?

Ahh - I just noticed you were from the Netherlands. And having lived overseas for 25+ years, I know that many of the same English words have completely different meanings in different locales.

 

[peter1958]

Oily woods do not hold onto CA as much as non-oily woods. BUT, I can't imagine that you peeled the CA off of the whole pen. Usually CA will stick to some parts. Some people do manage to get CA to stick, but there are tricks or techniques that help.

Something is not quite adding up. When you said you "peeled", are you meaning by hand? Or do you mean you turned it off with the skew or scraper, or sanded the CA off?

Ahh - I just noticed you were from the Netherlands. And having lived overseas for 25+ years, I know that many of the same English words have completely different meanings in different locales.

Peeling off was with a knife, (carpet knife it is called here) could stick the point under the glue and it let go for 2 or 3 mm. A little flexible but then it breaks. I'll buy some super thin ca that penetrates the wood as a first layer, then go on with the thicker ca.
Took me 10 minutes to get it off the blanks. No damage to the blanks.

 

[leehljp]

Peeling off was with a knife, (carpet knife it is called here) could stick the point under the glue and it let go for 2 or 3 mm. A little flexible but then it breaks. I'll buy some super thin ca that penetrates the wood as a first layer, then go on with the thicker ca.
Took me 10 minutes to get it off the blanks. No damage to the blanks.

In cases like that, if one know how to disassemble a pen, it is fairly easy put it back on the lathe and turn the CA off with a chisel of choice. I think someone mentioned above, but Acetone wiped over the bare blank will remove the oils and then the CA can be applied. DeNatured Alcohol (DNA) can work and does work well for some, but DNA can cause cloudiness under the CA in some circumstances, more so in humid environments.

 

[studioseven]

I've used DNA to wipe my blank down after sanding and have that cloudyness rear its ugly head. I'm game to switch to acetone. Just curious if there is a recommended time to let dry? Speaking of Acetone, me being of the cheap type, bought a gallon container of it. I always made a mess pouting the acetone out. No matter how careful I was, I always spilled some. Even using a funnel. Fed up, I went looking for something smaller to store it in. I knew I couldn't store it in plastic. I found this liquid soap dispenser at Walmart that had a pump handle on it made of glass. Well all but the pump part was glass. The handle was eaten up in a couple of days. Still being on the cheap side, I pulled what was left of the pump and threw it away. Now I was left with a screw top with a hole in it that was for the pump section. No worries, I just carefully cut out a cardboard disc and installed in on the inner side of the screw cap. Well I noticed a few nights ago that the glass jar was empty. It all evaporated never to be seen again. I guess my cardboard gasket didn't seal very well. Got to be some life lessons here.

Seven

 

[jttheclockman]

I've used DNA to wipe my blank down after sanding and have that cloudyness rear its ugly head. I'm game to switch to acetone. Just curious if there is a recommended time to let dry? Speaking of Acetone, me being of the cheap type, bought a gallon container of it. I always made a mess pouting the acetone out. No matter how careful I was, I always spilled some. Even using a funnel. Fed up, I went looking for something smaller to store it in. I knew I couldn't store it in plastic. I found this liquid soap dispenser at Walmart that had a pump handle on it made of glass. Well all but the pump part was glass. The handle was eaten up in a couple of days. Still being on the cheap side, I pulled what was left of the pump and threw it away. Now I was left with a screw top with a hole in it that was for the pump section. No worries, I just carefully cut out a cardboard disc and installed in on the inner side of the screw cap. Well I noticed a few nights ago that the glass jar was empty. It all evaporated never to be seen again. I guess my cardboard gasket didn't seal very well. Got to be some life lessons here.

Seven

They sell quart cans. You do know there is a proper way to pour liquid from a can right?? I have mentioned this a few times here before. But you may fall into the catagory of people that just never heard of the proper way. So here is a video and it will surprise you how easy it is and bet you will never forget it.

 

[Ted iin Michigan]

I'm thinking the CA finish was proud of the end of the blank as you were assembling. When this happens, the pressure of the assembly method will force the pen component against the CA that is proud and it will tend to "chip" and detach from the substrate. This happens (to me) when I am doing CA application WITHOUT the steel bushings. Eliminate the proud portion by lightly sanding the end of the blank (hold the blank vertically) until you see bright brass.
Nice pen, by the way. Really like the scallops!

 

[peter1958]

I'm thinking the CA finish was proud of the end of the blank as you were assembling. When this happens, the pressure of the assembly method will force the pen component against the CA that is proud and it will tend to "chip" and detach from the substrate. This happens (to me) when I am doing CA application WITHOUT the steel bushings. Eliminate the proud portion by lightly sanding the end of the blank (hold the blank vertically) until you see bright brass.
Nice pen, by the way. Really like the scallops!

Hello Ted,
Today i made a pen with CA finish and indeed with the plastic selfmade bushings it was proud of the end. I sanded the blank slightly until the ends were flat again and assembled it.
Not perfect but good enough for me.

 

[Ted iin Michigan]

well done