cocobola

[sparhawk]

I have only turned about 6 pens so far and have used poly to finish them. It has a nice gloss and finishes well. My problem is I turned apen out of cocobola and the poly wont dry! Have used the same can of fast drying minwax poly on olivewood, dymondwood ,zebrawood, and I think bocote. No problems but after 1 week the cocobola is still tacky. Any sugestions?

 

[toolcrazy]

Are you using a sanding sealer?

If not, try one. Coco can be a chore to get a good finish on it due to the oil in the wood. I use thin CA to seal it, just be careful to not sand it off.

 

[sparhawk]

no I haven't been sealing anything. Just sand with very fine sandpaper then polish with steel wool. Worked on everything else. Quess i'll have to try the ca. thanks

 

[exoticwo]

Hugo,
Cocobolo has a lot of oil in it. You might try wiping down with Acetone just before applying Poly. The acetone will remove the dop layer of oil long enough to apply finish. All my Cocobolo gets finished with EEE-Ultra Shine Paste Wax and Shellawax and always have a good look to them.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Originally posted by exoticwo
<br />Hugo,
Cocobolo has a lot of oil in it. You might try wiping down with Acetone just before applying Poly. The acetone will remove the dop layer of oil long enough to apply finish. All my Cocobolo gets finished with EEE-Ultra Shine Paste Wax and Shellawax and always have a good look to them.

Or wipe with denatured alcohol, a/k/a DNA.

 

[GBusardo]

I have used Enduro on Cocobola with no problems. Maybe because I first used a the sanding sealer? I have wanted to pull out what little hair I have left on my head trying to use a CA finish on Cocobola and I have tried everything. The problem with Enduro is waiting for it to cure.

 

[Grizzlyss]

I have used Darios suggestion of using CA accelerator to clean the blanks before finishing. I have found on Cocobolo that it doesn't mute the colors as much as acetone does. Hope this helps too.

Sheldon

 

[sparhawk]

Thanks all . I came home after work, sanded the still tacky (after almost 3 weeks now) poly off, polished with steel wool and then applied several coats of ca. Could never get the 2 bumps (comfort grip ha!) to shine like the rest of the pen. Tried jewelers rouge(gave everything but those 2 spots a mirror finish) and finally after about three more tries sanding and ca'ing gave up. Went ahead and polished the whole pen with jewelers rouge and waxed it with mcquires car wax. Critique away, I know i am not pleased but it does look okay. The wife says I notice to much but I wouldn't want to give it some one. Try again another day. Thanks for all the input.

<br />

 

[loglugger]

Sparhawk, very nice looking pen. []
Bob

 

[SteveRussell]

Hello,

As another poster mentioned, you need to do an Acetone wash before finishing Cocobolo. Wipe the barrels down a couple of times and let them dry for a few minutes, then finish as normal. If you have to wait more than 15 minutes before you can apply your finish, you should rewash the surface with Acetone and start over. Good luck and best wishes! By the way, your pen looks very nice! Take care!