? Delay after BLO/CA

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Larry Gottlieb

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Joined
Jan 18, 2004
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163
Location
madison, wi, USA.
I had been letting the wood (not stabilized) barrels finished with BLO/CA sit overnight before using EEE and Ren wax.

Recently I have been applying the EEE and Ren wax immediately after applying the BLO/CA.
I don't see any difference.

Am I missing something?

Thanks

Larry
 
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I believe that if you let the CA harden fully, you will get a better gloss when you polish it.
I like to let the CA sit for a hour or two before taking it to the buffer.
 
In the past I've buffed CA finishes as soon as I applied them. A couple of months ago tho I noticed micro scrtaches in my finish when held under bright light at the proper angle. I played around and finally settled on applying my CA finish and letting it sit over night and sanding out and buffing the next day. I get a much better finish this way of course your mileage may vary.
Not to hijack the thread, but when I choose to use BLO in my finish I also let it sit over night after rubbing and burnishing it into the pen surface. I've had a few finishes cloud up or develop dull spots when using BLO and this seems to work better for me.
 
Mick,

I look at the pens with a dissecting microscope and do not see any micro scratches when I use EEE and Ren wax immediately or let sit overnight.

Do you mean that you apply BLO, rub and burnish, let it sit overnight, and then apply CA the next day?

Thanks

Larry
 
I agree with Brad. Although many say it is not necessary to wait before polishing a CA/BLO finish I get better results if I wait. Usually overnight. It is not problem for me and the shine is always better.
 
CA glue reaches about 75% of its final hardhess when the reaction takes place, about 85% when it has cooled to room temperature, or about 1-hour; and cures to 100% in 24 hours in most cases. We can get away with a lot with CA glue because it is still harder than most finishes when it is only 75% cured. Whether the partially cured CA can be buffed depends on the speed of the buffing wheel and how aressivelty you press the wood against it.

The choice is yours whether you want to risk damage by buffing it immediately, lowering the risk by waiting an hour, or waiting a day and never having a problem. I wait 'til tomorrow when I can, and use a light touch to a slow wheen when I can't.
 
Larry Gottlieb said:
Mick,

I look at the pens with a dissecting microscope and do not see any micro scratches when I use EEE and Ren wax immediately or let sit overnight.

Do you mean that you apply BLO, rub and burnish, let it sit overnight, and then apply CA the next day?

Thanks

Larry
Click to expand...

Larry, That's exactly what I do. I find that I've totally eliminated the clouding of my finish if I wait at least over night.
 
redfishsc said:
Does anyone have many dull spots show up on the CA if waiting overnight? This is one of the reasons I seldom use CA finish.
Click to expand...

Not me. I have rarely had a dull spot since I started applying medium or thick CA. I use some "year old" CA too. I used to have dull spots show up regularly. But I also noticed that when it does, and I sand with 600 or 800 sandpaper, small bits of _wood_ sanding dust shows up on the sand paper. And you know what that means - sand through to the wood in a spot. If a pen is .005 OOR, sand through can occur easily. With CA soaked into the wood, it will appear shiny for while.

The number of people who say that their OOR went away with the mandrelless / no mandrell usage attests to the fact of how much OOR there is. And OOR causes small patches of CA to be sanded away to the point of it showing up as dull while the turner will swear that it is not sanded through.

One other thing that will cause dull spots: If CA is not totally level or smooth and sanding is needed to bring it down, and it is not 1000% smooth from end to end, a little sanding dust that is left behind in un-smooth swirls - that dust can be covered over by the next layer of CA and cloudy spots will occur. I have done this a few times, but out of habit now, I wipe the pen clean after each sanding.

This might not address your problem exactly but is the two that I had early on. I haven't had a dull spot in over a year since I started doing the mandrel-less method.
 
Larry Gottlieb said:
Mick,
I look at the pens with a dissecting microscope and do not see any micro scratches when I use EEE and Ren wax immediately or let sit overnight.

Do you mean that you apply BLO, rub and burnish, let it sit overnight, and then apply CA the next day?
Thanks
Larry
Click to expand...

In addition to what Russ and others have said, another reason for letting a pen set overnight is to let the wood stabilize with the finish on it. I have a beautiful pen that I made, and it had two small knots on it about the size of a pen head. I finished the pen and it was smooth all over. In a couple of days I noticed two indentions where the knots were. And a habit of mine is to rotate the blanks under bright lights looking for irregularities before removing them from the lathe. I do this twice - after all sanding is complete and again after all finishing and waxing is complete.

Unstabilized wood will telepath patterns in some cases and did in the case of that pen. If I had waited overnight for it to cure before final sanding, I am sure that I would have sanded everything out, including and those spots before finishing. Sometimes, even some stabilized woods will do the same in high humidity places.
 
Hank, you need to get rid of that bright light and quit looking at them so closely. You will notice a dramatic improvement in your pens.

Seriously, we inspect our pens more closely and demand a perfection that is lost on the people who buy them. We demand 12,000MM perfection when we are selling to a 320-grit world.
 
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Thanks Russ

The quote: "We demand 12,000MM perfection when we are selling to a 320-grit world." should be placed on the wall next to our lathes.

On the other hand, a continuing discussion of how to reach for "perfection" is one of the things that makes our hobby enjoyable.

Larry
 
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