Finishing Question

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rebfan04

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Dec 15, 2010
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Flowood, MS
I have been using BLO on most pens as a first coat before CA. What should I use, or is it ok to put CA on bare wood?
 
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I prefer to put CA on the bare wood... for oily woods, I do a quick wipedown with CA Accelerator first to remove surface oils.
 
sometimes BLO changes the desired look of the wood. CA can also 'pop' the grain, but with lighter woods, its usually less pronounced.

I did 2 hackberry pens, the first I wiped with BLO first and it really darkened the 'rays' ... too much, IMO. The second I went straight CA and the grain stayed light and showed off a fiddle back pattern that I wasnt even aware was there !!!

If you have small cutoffs, try both to see how it may look.
 
rebfan04 said:
I have been using BLO on most pens as a first coat before CA. What should I use, or is it ok to put CA on bare wood?
Click to expand...


Gotta be careful - the CA police will nab you if you do it wrong. :cool:

Seriously, you can do anything you want.

I'm not a great fan of a CA finish, but I go admit that it's effective on pens. In my experience, applying BLO first helps bring out the grain, and having a bit of BLO on the paper towel certainly help smooth out the first couple of coats of CA (which in my case are usually thin). But subsequent applications are medium applied with a plastic bag.

But you can certainly apply the CA to bare wood, either as a finish or to stabilize the wood. I'm working on a hand mirror in cherry, and the wood I have has some cracks. A few minutes ago I roughed out the shape, and then put some thin CA directly onto the wood in the area that is cracking. The CA will be drawn into the cracks to prevent them from getting worse (I hope). After it cures, I will go back to finish off the shape and start sanding.
 
I finish all my pens with just CA. I like to sand to 600 grit then a little with 1200 grit because I have it, then just Ca for the finish. I have never got the hang of using BLO so I just go with what works for me.
 
I have done a combination of several methods. At first, I used BLO, plus CA on the wood and experienced some darkening, etc. I have now switched to CA on the wood first after a wipe down with DNA or CA accelerator. Still experimenting with my actual method for completed finish. Try different methods and see what works best for you.
 
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