Finally mastered CA finish

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jkirkb94

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Joined
Oct 11, 2004
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Location
Oklahoma City, Ok, USA.
One of the reasons that I stopped making pens for a few years is my dissatisfaction with my finishes. Tried CA and had difficulty doing it. Finally figured it out with help from some videos and the right instructions. Very pleased with results. Enough so that I've begun taking apart a lot of my old pens to refinish them. (Thank you Harbor Freight for a great cheap punch set.) I've pretty much decided to forget the waxes and laquers forever. CA has really enhanced the quality of my pens!! Once I get back into photographing my pens, I'll show some before and after pictures of using CA. Also I learned a long time ago to have CA remover within arms length while using CA! Kirk
 
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Hi Kirk, do you mind telling us your process, teach me master :)
I have always wanted to know how other do there CA finish, I to have had my fair share of problems with the "Black arts" of CA finish :)
Aloha.

Chris "Kalai"
 
Allen, don't forget the yellow socks, Taco Bell brown napkins, the chant, standing on the right foot or was it the left, offering your first born as offering, oh no, I forgot the rest! I'll never make it work again now!
Charles
 
Actually PSI's kit and instructions where helpful in doing CA. Mainly building up the layers and waiting overnight for CA to harden before sanding down is what worked for me. :-) Except for hardening overnight, CA doesn't seem to take me any longer than past polishing techniques. Kirk
 
I am surprised that few that make movies about CA finishes do not discuss how to keep from glueing the bushings to the wood/pen. Most seem to be using metal bushings and do not show how to remove the finished wood from the mandrel. They stop after making it shine.

I know of a couple ways of advoiding this problem but I think the demo makers are remiss in not showing how.. Come on Grub32 show how.

And they need to show how to keep the water from getting under the CA when wet sanding.

This small board is killing me -- hope you can read this with poor spelling.
 
The main reason that I didn't discuss any of that is bc there are time limits for YouTube videos and I had to shorten it to make it the right length. I also wanted to show that using my technique, it takes LESS than 10 mins.

So here goes...I glue the busings to the blanks...stops the water from getting under the glue, solution one....next I cut the blank away from the bushings with an exacto knife, lightly and carefully sand the edges.

That's all,

Grub
 
gallianp said:
I am surprised that few that make movies about CA finishes do not discuss how to keep from glueing the bushings to the wood/pen. Most seem to be using metal bushings and do not show how to remove the finished wood from the mandrel. They stop after making it shine.

I know of a couple ways of advoiding this problem but I think the demo makers are remiss in not showing how.. Come on Grub32 show how.

And they need to show how to keep the water from getting under the CA when wet sanding.

This small board is killing me -- hope you can read this with poor spelling.
Click to expand...

Usually a little glue gets on my bushings keeping water out from under the CA. When I need to break them loose, I just slide them off the mandrel, and either wiggle the barrel while the bushing is held still, or tap the flat surface of the bushing against metal a few times and it comes right off. If I'm really worried, I'll use a small skew I forged to cut the bushings loose without damaging the pen barrels. Then sand the ends lightly, and all is well.
 
I think that one of the finest things I've learned in the past two weeks is to use high density foam to apply the CA finish. It really has helped my finishes a lot.

Thank you Nikitas and PTownsubbie!
 
Grub, that is probably the single most helpful video I've seen yet regarding the CA finish. I feel confident that as soon as more supplies get here, I can do that no problem.

One question though, you used thin CA for all the layers...I've always heard of people using a combination of thin and med/thick. Does it make a difference? I find the thin CA easier to smooth/control, the thicker stuff is where I start getting lumps and waves...
 
Scooley01 said:
Grub, that is probably the single most helpful video I've seen yet regarding the CA finish. I feel confident that as soon as more supplies get here, I can do that no problem.

One question though, you used thin CA for all the layers...I've always heard of people using a combination of thin and med/thick. Does it make a difference? I find the thin CA easier to smooth/control, the thicker stuff is where I start getting lumps and waves...
Click to expand...

The thin CAN be used, but you gotta put a LOT of coats down to get the high gloss. I do 3 or 4 coats of thin, 3 or 4 coats of meduim, followed by MicroMesh. The medium you can smooth out by wiping down a couple of times when you're putting it down. Having lights on at all different angles helps you see where it could get all lumpy.
 
I have found that using thin builds up just fine and still builds up to a high gloss. I guess it personal preference. I don't think it really needs to be that thick if its smooth and you don't have to sand that much. I usually don't have to go back to anything less than 600 grit when starting the sanding process. More often than not, I go straight to micro mesh.

Good luck with the process, if you have any questions pm me.

Grub
 
Padre said:
I think that one of the finest things I've learned in the past two weeks is to use high density foam to apply the CA finish. It really has helped my finishes a lot.

Thank you Nikitas and PTownsubbie!
Click to expand...

I tried using the high density foam with poor results. Haven't seen any info other than that some people are using it.
Is there more info somewhere?
 
Thanks for the response to my post.

I think my point was a liitle missed understood -- but I understand YouTube time limitations.

I wish that demosccould show more and not end with "see it shines".

Thanks again for the effort put into ALL of the movie demos.

Paul
 
Kirk, when you get to the point of being comfortable with the CA....go back to the other finishes and learn to do them as well. It will build your confidence up and expand your knowledge with finishing techniques.

Dave
 
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