Finish woes

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
P

Paul Downes

Member
Joined
May 19, 2004
Messages
216
Location
Westphalia, Mi, USA.
Tonight was a good night to read a book apparently. I had just 4 sold pens to turn. The first was a cross cut cocobolo. Everything went well until I was sanding out the CA finish with micro mesh. when I got to 4000, I noticed an irridescent haze under the finish. I messed with it a little and decided to pull it off and fix it later. The next pen was crosscut figured bubinga. I got to the same stage and noticed the same thing.??? After closer examination I determined that it was a bubble where the finish had seperated from the wood.

I did seal the wood with sanding sealer after sanding out with MM and oiling the wood to 'pop' the grain.

I think the problem is caused by getting too agressive when sanding out the finish. I suspect that I allowed too much heat to build up causing the separartion.

So I thought I would wet sand the CA finish. Wrong move....I sanded through the finish and the water turned the bubinga a not-so-nice black color......

Do you folks think my obsevations are correct??
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Why don`t you read one of the many good CA tutorials in the library of this forum.

I never use sanding sealer before a CA finish, are you using Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO) to `pop` the grain?
 
YEP! Heat is a critter better left un-applied to finishes like CA. Unless you have another problem like moisture under the finish. Cocobolo is very resinous (oily) and the heat from sanding will cause this oil to surface and more often than not to cause possible problems with finishes. Remember too that Cocobolo will react with CA glues and it generates an abundance of heat really quick.

Try sanding until your fingers feel the build-up of mild heat. STOP and let the heat dissipate and then proceed again. I am not talking about getting the wood so hot that you can't stand the heat and burn yourself. If that happens you are sanding way to hard and that just makes for many, many problems down the way.

Just sand first with an aggressive grit, clean the surface, move to the next finer grit, clean the surface, and proceed until satisfied. DO NOT SKIP GRITS and always sand a bit with the grain prior to moving to the next grit size. It is not how fast you sand it is how you sand that makes for the final finish. This ain't a race you know! Time is also a tool to learn and understand how best to apply it ... :)
 
You're adding more oil to an oily wood? Is the sanding sealer an oil base? Try sanding with thin ca, which will seal the wood & 'pop' the grain at the same time. Could it be you are piling up too many things & they aren't adhering to each other. Heat?? I use Mylands Friction & have had the manderl hot to touch but have yet had a blank crack.
 
I have read the tutorials several times. I have also turned several 100 pens with no problems. I did skip cleaning the cocobolo, something I usually do. OOOPS. I tried another bubinga last night with the same results. After sanding off the CA I applies just sanding sealer. That did pop the grain, and I was able to get a decent finish on that barrel. I'll have to try just CA and see if that pops the grain sufficiently.

Bubinga does have an open grain so I wanted to fill in the open grain pores. I'm sure glad i ordered 20 extra tubes with my last order. I will try again today, but am also glueing up a curly Koa and a desert ironwood just in case. It's nice when a customer allows "your best judgement" on wood selection. This pen is for a multi-millionaire for Father's Day and I sure want to sell Him something nice.

Sure feel like I'm back in school. I wish I had the time to use a lacquer finish but time won't allow that option.

Thanks for the replies. I do get in the grove of cranking out pens sometimes but am going to have to slow down on the more exspensive orders. I just sold 50 birdseye pens to a customer and I have figured out how to turn those quickly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom