CA over PR. Does it make sense? What else?

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alxe24

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I am thinking how do you guys finish a cactus pen. Do you sand and polish mormally, or do you do anything to get an even shine trhough the pen? Like CA, (would this work?) never used CA on polierster Resing. The way we are cutting the material and then truning it and sanding flush we are still hainge 2 distinctive surfances to give the same look.
What is your approach?
Thanks
 
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I don't know about cactus pens, but with PR, I sand with 320, then 600, then use my Beall buffing setup. The shine I get is equal tow what I was getting sanding through 12,000MM I do not put an additional coat of anything on plastics.
 
The only thing I put on my synthetics is TSW or Ren Wax, and that gets applied to the entire pen. The others pretty well vovered the rest (except I wet sand mine).
 
For the cactus blanks and other blanks with natural fibers sticking out of it, a layer or five of CA is a good idea. It helps seal the ends of the fibers, and provides a more uniform surface. For "standard" PR/acrylic/etc., the material shines up well on its own.
 
Originally posted by JimGo
<br />For the cactus blanks and other blanks with natural fibers sticking out of it, a layer or five of CA is a good idea. It helps seal the ends of the fibers, and provides a more uniform surface. For "standard" PR/acrylic/etc., the material shines up well on its own.
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Thanks for your responses. This was what I meant, about the fibers or other material sticking out. When I have regular castings or celluloid I don't coat with anything.
Do you apply the CA like you would on wood? Thin or medium CA acts the same?
Thanks again
Alex
 
I put a CA finish on cactus only because the fibers reach the edge of the blank as well where snake for instance is more like an entirely synthetic blank.
 
Although I HAVE blanks from Mesquite Man, I have not TURNED any yet. I would be interested in his opinion.

Off the cuff, I would say the cactus is thin enough that it absorbs PR, becoming mostly plastic. So, the fibers would not be a concern.

Again, I would bow to Curtis' judgement, since he has more experience than any of us with this material.
 
From my experience, putting CA on the pen simply to seal the cactus skeleton is not necessary. If you want to put it on there to make it shine better then go for it. The skeletons are so thin and hard that dye will not penetrate (I have tried) so I would not be worried at all about the skeletons getting dirty.

I am a custom home builder and I actually get my hands dirty building the homes I build. I have a cactus Sierra that I have been carrying daily since I first created the cactus pen blanks (6 months or so). It has been dropped from a 2nd floor onto concrete, dropped in the mud, handled with oily hands, and generally abused much more than a good quality pen should. So far, the cactus has not changed color at all and the barrel looks just as nice as it did when I first put it together. The hardware, on the other hand, had been replaced 2 twice!
 
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