finishing bow?

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IMHO all wood pens that will be used need a good durable finish. If the pen is for decoration only, then leave it natural.

Human hands are filthy and will transfer dirt, sweat, oil, etc to anything they touch.
 
Wipe clean with Naptha when you're done sanding and use thin CA, multiple coats, for a finish. It will stick, look great, and protect it for a very long time. Read up on CA finishes throughout the site.

Dale
 
Just use CA, I use thin. Never wipe the blank down with alcohol or so, I just give it a dry rub with an old towel before I apply the CA. I am afraid that some alcohol might be trapped under the finish, and alcohol contains a lot of water (rubbing alcohol is normally 60% alcohol, rest is water).
 
Thanks :)

I have all the pens turned and sanded to 2000 grit sandpaper.. going to go get some ca tomorrow morning..

Problem though.. The place I am going to get the CA glue at is sold out of micromesh (and wont have any until Jan), I searched all over today and the finest sandpaper I could get is 2k grit.. Would I notice much of a quality difference if these are done with that only instead of mm? It takes about a week to get any here via mail.. These need to be done for Friday..
 
Go with the 2000 .. that's higher than some people sand. It will give you a
nice finish, but perhaps not as much depth... or maybe it will. :biggrin:

Go with what you have and do the best you can ..
Who can ask more than that?
 
Pick up a 6" buffing wheel and arbor for your drill press and use white diamond compound to buff after sanding . You could also use plastic polish on the lathe after sanding , CA is a plastic finish . Either way you will get a much better shine then sanding alone .
 
I did a BOW barrel yesterday using Rudy's technique (but a few extra coats) - worked great. I did, however, wipe down with DNA to clean the barrel - seems I'm always able to get more sanding dust (including some specks of bushing dust - yeah, I know) using DNA versus just a towel - but I let it spin on the lathe for 15 minutes or more before applying the CA glue to make sure it was dry.
 
I wipe my pens with acetone before finishing with CA b/c acetone dissolves in just seconds. Way faster than dna or mineral spirits. I have some olivewood I did a while back for my father in law and used a friction polish. It lasted.....about 5 days on it. He likes the natural wood feel though, but still I would use CA if at all possible.
 
Another option is to rough sand with CA to work up a CA/slurry. Then sand and finish with CA as you normally would. The CA/slurry will build up a good base coat for the CA finish. I discovered that with BOW by accident while trying to fill in a void. When I finished sanding and got ready to apply the finish, it was already shiny and had a decent CA base.
 
jkeithrussell said:
Another option is to rough sand with CA to work up a CA/slurry. Then sand and finish with CA as you normally would. The CA/slurry will build up a good base coat for the CA finish. I discovered that with BOW by accident while trying to fill in a void. When I finished sanding and got ready to apply the finish, it was already shiny and had a decent CA base.
Click to expand...


Actually working on one this afternoon that had tons of figure in it, soon as I got the blank rounded, the figure was pretty much gone.. now that its down to pen size, it looks like maple :rolleyes: And I noticed a small void I need to fill.. so i will try this as well :smile:

Thanks!
 
I just used a normal CA/BLO on my last one, but I wiped it down very thoroughly with denatured alcohol before I put on the finish. If you try this make sure the denatured alcohol is completely dry. I thought the results were quite good. Not perfect, but the best I've gotten so far. I also used renaissance wax after finishing. I prefer a natural finish on BOW if its my pen, but this one needed to be very durable so a natural finish wouldn't suit it.

The best option is to experiment and let us know what works best,
Good luck,
-Joseph
 
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