Cocabolo & CA Finish

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LL Woodworks

LL Woodworks

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I have some beautiful cocobolo but am hesitant to make pens and finish with CA (my pen finish of choice). I know it is an oily wood by nature and was wondering has anyone had an issue- short or long term - finishing cococbolo with CA?

Thanks for the feedback
 
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I have done several cocobolo pens and I only do CA finishes, I have had no issues what so ever with any of the CA finishes on them. One thing I do before applying a CA finish is, I apply a light rubbing of Mylars cellulose sanding sealer.
 
^^ these.
You can use alcohol to clean the blank too. I'd start with 10 coats then wet sand...see where you are and more forward.
 
Cocobolo finish

I have had some interesting results with finishing Cocobol. Attached are 3 pictures showing what I have experienced.

When I got the cocobolo blanks they were dark. See outside of of wood pieces.

When I cut the blank, the wood was quite lite see picture 12.

After a couple weeks, the wood turns orangy. See picture 13.

A comparison is in picture 16. (The other part of the segmented piece is teak.)
 

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This is what i call the Cocobolo Transitions. The pen on top was turned a year prior to the pen below it. The bottom pen was recently turned when photo was taken. They both took an excellent CA finish.


 
Is there any way to halt the color change?

While both pens are good looking, I like the color of the latter a bit better.
 
Yes, Cocobolo will darken. Usually losing all the yellow tones to a dark red color - but they're still just as beautiful.

I've had success using CA on Cocobolo after after making the following two changes: I started wiping down the blank with acetone immediately prior to the first coat of CA and I made sure the ends of the blank were sealed with CA before wet sanding.
 
I find Cocobolo to be very easy to finish with CA. I clean with isopropyl alcohol on a paper towel and let dry 10 minutes before applying the first coat of CA.
 
I have finished Cocobolo using the method in my tutorial in this forum many times and I always get a great finish. Take a look at it and see what you think.
 
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