Crazed - Cracked Finish on Pen - Very Aggravating

[egnald]

Hello All,

It hasn't happened to me very often at all; however, today I was looking at some recently completed pens and found that a "Plain Old Cigar and Cocobolo" that I made on February 18 now has a crazed appearance. According to my fingernail test the cracks are all the way to the surface of the finish. I suppose I will knock it apart, sand it down, and re-finish it. The only thing I can think of is that I may have started with CA a little sooner than usual after cleaning with Denatured Alcohol. Otherwise there was nothing different that stands out in the regimen that I use. Your thoughts?

Regards,
Dave

No Cracks as completed on Feb 18

With Cracks as I found it today March 7

 

[jttheclockman]

A few things. I say this over and over and over and over again here but it falls on deaf ears. Pen turning is a marathon and not a sprint. Please take note. If you are going to do pens for sale stick with acrylics and mass produce them as fast as you can and even faster. Go for it. But if you are working with wood blanks and all these people who sell blanks here can not tell you their blank is dry enough to use for your purpose unless maybe if it were stabilized which is plastic injected in the pores. But if you order a blank and now it ships from place to place the humidity levels changed in transit. How was it stored and where. Yes these are factors.

Now the CA itself can be old which will lead to not good adhesion. I hate the accelerators with a passion. It makes the coating too brittle and the layer underneath now has no way to escape the gases. I am tired of saying to skip them because people continue to use them and some people have good success so you have been warned. If you are using them make sure they are compatible with the CA you are using. They are not all the same formula. Change CA and still use same accelerator can be a disaster. Now the blank itself is an oily blank and I am a fan of wiping with acetone and not DNA. Again my choice and had success. Do not use so many coats. 3 of thin and 4 to 5 of med is all that is needed. If all else fails then maybe need to switch top coat and either just polish or use a lacquer designed for woods. Time between coats to dry before next coat is applied. It can take 2 days for me to put CA and another to let it cure before I polish. Some woods are just not made to have a hard brittle finish because they move so much and if they are not dry enough then they move even more.

But again all this is time consuming so I work on at least 4 to 5 and sometimes more blanks at a time. Right now I have 10 blanks going. Good luck.

 

[PatrickR]

I second the idea of using a well dried, stabilized blank. Too many people (this may not be you or your cause) buy a blank or plank and immediately make a pen out of it. The faster a lumber maker processes and sells a board the more they make. I always assume a blank is wet until I know otherwise. There is also the idea of acclimatization even if dry it hasn't acclimated to your climate. This takes time, at least a year stored without climate control.


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[Displaced Canadian]

I also like to let the blank sit for a day between when I think I have enough coats of CA and when I start polishing.

 

[egnald]

Well, Here it is re-finished and back to it's un-cracked appearance.
I'm anxious to check on it in a couple of weeks to see if the problem recurs.
Dave

 

[jttheclockman]

Well, Here it is re-finished and back to it's un-cracked appearance.
I'm anxious to check on it in a couple of weeks to see if the problem recurs.
Dave

did you do anything different??

 

[egnald]

did you do anything different??

I only waited longer than I typically do between cleaning the blank and applying my first coat of thin CA. If it happens again I will be tossing my CA and replacing it with fresh.

 

[cmiller]

What CA are you using? I used to have cracking and checking problems but I switched to Mercury Adhesives flex medium and thin. No problems since.

 

[SteveJ]

It is a pen/blank worth saving! Hope your finish makes it this time.

 

[egnald]

What CA are you using? I used to have cracking and checking problems but I switched to Mercury Adhesives flex medium and thin. No problems since.

I have been using the Stick Fast system - Thin and Medium Wood Finish formulation (not the standard Stick Fast CA formulation.
I have been using it for several years without any issues. This was the first time I have had any kind of issue.
Dave

 

[leehljp]

I had this happen a couple of years ago. I know how to finish with and without the presence of humidity, when it is cool, when it is hot, with CA purchased on both sides of the Pacific. I have been making and finishing pens for 17 years now. But two years ago it happened on two pens. I think I just got some old CA. Both blanks were about 10 - 12 years old, so they were dry. Got some new CA and all worked well.

 

[cmiller]

I have been using the Stick Fast system - Thin and Medium Wood Finish formulation (not the standard Stick Fast CA formulation.
I have been using it for several years without any issues. This was the first time I have had any kind of issue.
Dave

I used StickFast as well. Seemed to work ok at first, but then it didn't. Maybe the stuff was going bad in the bottle, or maybe temperature or humidity changes, who knows. The Mercury Adhesives flex has worked 100 percent for me. Hopefully not jinxing myself...

 

[egnald]

Well, it's been just over a week and the pen looks as good as it did after it was re-finished. I also have been keeping an eye on the 2nd pen I made just after that - still looking good. - Dave

 

[egnald]

And another week has gone by with no re-appearance of cracks on either the re-finished one or on the 2nd one I made after that. Still looking good. I'm going to have to chalk this up to not letting all of the alcohol evaporate out well enough before starting to apply CA. - Dave