Fiddleback Eucalyptus Burl

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Skye

Skye

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Jan 3, 2006
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Rock Hill, SC
Had botttle stopper mess up on me last night, so rather than call the whole evening a waste, I tried a fatline for the first time. Glad I kept going, turned out to be a great pen!

Fiddleback Eucalyptus Burl, slimline kit, CA finish with TSW. Photo taken at work once again with the good lighting here :)

eucalyptus.jpg
 
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Yeah, I take advantage of the lighting here at the office. Other angles dont show the finish as well, I have to take a few pics before I really capture it.

Your finish is where I'm heading [8D]
 
I honestly dont know what the centerband is. It was something laying around my shop. I'm going to say it's redwood, looks a lot like some redwood I have from RTJW.

The photo setup isnt anything special, just happens to work really well. It's the corner of my desk at work. We've got light colored walls, a little natural sunlight, long halogen bulbs overhead. I take the photo with a Kodak EasyShare Z730, no flash, macro mode. I can get them better with a stand, but I dont have one. Also, I move my head and the pen around till the finish is really shining, then that's where I put the camera. Backdrops are just images I snag off webshots, free desktop wallpapers and the like.

The burl doesnt show well, so I may knock out another pic. There's not much of it in the piece anyhow.
 
Skye, your pens are turning out awesome! The ONLY comment I would have is abandon the cheaper kits and only do the nicer kits. Your pens are too nice.

I also assumed the CB was bloodwood as soon as I looked at it too.
 
Chris, you man plating wise?

Tom, I used to put a ton of effort into it, now I've got it down pretty good.

All I do is:
  • Sand the wood to #5 MM followed by DNA.<br />
  • Apply a thin layer of CA for a sealer.<br />
  • Carefully look at the blank, if there's lines from the CA, sand lightly with the #3<br />
  • Fold a paper towel to the same width of one blank. Lay down a thick line of thick CA, touch blank to line. Wiggle a little from side to side. <br />
  • Sand with a #2 or 3 to remove the shine. Stop the lathe, cross sand at 45 degrees in both directions. Kind of like knurling on a dumbell. Make sure there are NO visible sanding lines, NO shiny spots. DNA<br />
  • Another fat bead of CA on a folded paper towel, repeat sanding in prior step.<br />
  • One more layer of CA, this time thin. (dont know why I do this)<br />
  • Wet MM starting with #3 on through 9<br />
  • Dry, then apply TSW<br />

I think the finish comes from attention to getting a fat layer of thick CA while not 'barber polling' it. A good sanding with lots of cross sanding, and cleaning with DNA when needed.
 
Thanks Skye, I like that method. I have had trouble with the "barber poling" myself. I'm trying another now, I think some of my trouble was not letting my sanding sealer dry long enough. But I'm going to try the line method. No need to discriminate, I can can be equally bad at all of the CA methods. [:D] Just received 8 oz of thick, med and thin. I'm gonna learn how to do this or glue everything in the shop together. Which is what I almost did tonight. Been too used to med, didn't realize just how quick thin came out the other end of the blank [:0]
 
Yeah, thin is like water. It's good because it can act as a sealer and it's too thin to make any real waves. I hate it though because I always glue my fingers and hands. Hit them with a little accelerator by accident, freakin-a does that get hot!

Try the line method for the thick, it does help.
 
Skye,

I'm also having problems with the CA finish. Your "barber pole" comment hits the nail on the head! I'll try your method but I do have one question. When you apply the CA, do you put much pressure on the paper towel or do you put only enough to get an even coat and then stop?

One more thing, how long do you wait from application to sanding?

I sure hope I can make a pen as nice as those you are making some day!
 
I usualy hit it very softly, almost with just the bead of glue, not the towel. I think that saves a little glue from being pushed into the towel. After the bead has transfered to the blank, I put a little pressure on it to make sure it's even.

I'll wait at least 2 minutes then if I hit it with a LITTLE areosol accelerator. The hard part is telling if it's wet without messing it up. Then, once I think it's hard, I hit it with a heavier shot of accelerator. If it's that hard, it probably wont effect it, BUT , if I'm wrong and it's not fully cured, it'll save me a lot of heartache. Cross sand with a 3 or 5 (it's not science).

I made a lot with crapy finishes. Just seemed to get better about 5 pens ago. Probably my 60th pen or so? [:I]
 
Skye at the moment my thick CA is water. Is that from the heat of the weather.. We are having 42 degrees celcuis, that is 104 farenhiet. can it go off in those temperature?
Toni
 
I've been trying to avoid accelerator, but looks like I may have to change. I put on thick last night and there were some spots that weren't hard after 30 minutes. Other spots look like the glue either evaporated or either soaked into the wood. Then there were some spots that looked like a spider web and were gummy. This after sealing the blank with thin and a coat of sanding sealer. Maybe I'm sanding too much of the thin CA off after sealing.
 
Skye, That's one gorgeous pen. Your finish is flawless. I wish I could get the CA/BLO method I'm working on to look as good. I'm getting more of a matte finish. Maybe I need to switch from medium CA to Thick.
 
Originally posted by mick
<br />Skye, That's one gorgeous pen. Your finish is flawless. I wish I could get the CA/BLO method I'm working on to look as good. I'm getting more of a matte finish. Maybe I need to switch from medium CA to Thick.
Click to expand...

Try skipping the BLO, mine came out matte also.

Toni, get that glue somewhere cool! I didnt know it would get that thin.
 
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