Haze in CA finish on mallee burl

[redfishsc]

I have two pens I have made with Mallee burl (one Polaris and one cigar).

I used Russ Fairfield's CA/BLO method on both, except I mm'ed them to a high glass gloss.

The first, the Polaris, went perfectly.

The second-- the cigar--- was very hazy, all over the blank kinda mingled in with some glossy areas. I only wet sanded with water AFTER the final coat of CA, so there was no water to cause the haze.


I have sanded this finish off and reapplied it twice (making three finishes, in three different days) and it still does it.


FWIW, I am doing this in a spare bedroom converted to a small mini-shop, so there is little humidity to speak of due to the AC. That, and we haven't had any rain in the past month hardly. I have heard humidity will cause this haze, but that's not the culprit here.

So what izzit?

 

[exoticwo]

Perhaps the wood does not like the finish!![]
If you have more, throw that piece out and try another. Thats my opinion, how much time have you put into this problem and is it really worth it?

 

[ahoiberg]

i'd recommend trying a straight CA finish on it. all the burls i've done take the ca finish EXTREMELY well. use all thin and i bet you'll get a real nice gloss on it.

 

[mrcook4570]

Put more coats on it. Sounds like you are sanding through the CA if you have some spots that are glossy and some that are dull.

 

[barrels]

are you using BLO first?

 

[mdburn_em]

Yah, this happened to me yesterday. I'm about ready to have a firesale. (without the fire). I had to take 4 cigars down to the barrels because of this problem and I didn't use any blo. The cigar I'm using now has, the ultimate shine on it. Same technique, sometimes successful, sometimes not.
I feel your pain.

 

[bgray]

I'm convinced that no matter what method, sometimes CA just acts up.

There's definitely woods that don't take it well..I will never try it on Banksia again.

I would say that 1 out of 20 that I make get that haze, and I don't really have a good explanation...even on woods that take the finish well.

My best solution for getting rid of it is one coat of thin CA put on as smooth as I possibly can. This gets rid of the haziness, but then as soon at you use micromesh, or plastics polish, it seems to come back.

I usually apply thin CA, and then use some plastics polish by hand...not with the lathe turning. It's not the glossiest finish possible, but it's either that, or the haziness comes back with any kind of significant polishing.

If someone has a good theory as to what causes this, I would love to hear it as well.

 

[Lynn Livingston]

I'm going to take some heat hear probably, but so be it. This is the reason I don't do CA finishes anymore. And I really did like the CA finish for it's benefits. However, every so often, I'd get a hazy, or really more of a partly hazy finish. I've tried it straight and with different accelerators that have been mentioned and taught. I tried tracking the reason down for the failures; I took notes and watched close. But, alas, I couldn't find a common denominator that stood out. And of course, the final straw was a hazy finish on a pen that I really didn't have the luxury of time to deal with it. So, moaning and groaning, I moved on. Maybe some day I'll figure out what caused the failures and remedy it. You know, the strange thing is the first 50 to 75 I did never failed; that I could tell anyway. My personal pen is 3yrs old with a CA finish on it and is still perfect.
In fact, once done, I don't remember seeing any CA finish fail later. I just wish I could apply it perfect every time.

Lynn

 

[bgray]

Does anyone notice a worse failure rate with higher temperatures? I would say that now that Ohio weather is getting hotter, perhaps my haziness rate is a little higher.

I would perhaps add humidity to the question, but my shop is well controlled for humidity, so I've kinda ruled that out.

 

[jtate]

I'm wondering if the CS being kind of old, or at least past its prime, might be to blame. Lynn, when you said the first 50-75 came out fine and then you got the haze, that's what made me wonder about this. I don't know if it was still all with the same CA or not, but it's something to think about.

We often say, throw out the wood and start over but I haven't seen anyone suggest trying a different (and fresher) bottle of CA.

Julia

 

[mdburn_em]

Originally posted by jtate
[We often say, throw out the wood and start over but I haven't seen anyone suggest trying a different (and fresher) bottle of CA.

Julia

I was just going to post and say I think that might be my problem. I had a bunch of blanks turned to size with a sealing coat on them. I noticed it wouldn't dry and thought it was just because the temp was just over 50 degrees. Every one of those pens is causing me problems. I've turned 5 cigars to the brass. The others I've been moderately successful by scraping most of the glue off.
Think it's time to give a shout to Monty.

 

[Lynn Livingston]

Originally posted by jtate
<br />I'm wondering if the CS being kind of old, or at least past its prime, might be to blame. Lynn, when you said the first 50-75 came out fine and then you got the haze, that's what made me wonder about this. I don't know if it was still all with the same CA or not, but it's something to think about.

We often say, throw out the wood and start over but I haven't seen anyone suggest trying a different (and fresher) bottle of CA.

Julia

Julia,

I definitely changed glue, and brands, and grades, etc. to eradicate the problem. Looking at my notes from then, I must have tried 4 brands at least. They all gave excellent finishes that I know of (didn't notice a failure), but I seemed to be able to get a spotty finish now and then with all of them I suppose, although I didn't specifically note that.
I even tried other suggestions, like keeping the containers open, keeping the containers in the frige (which I do now) open and closed, keeping the glue in an air tight baggie, etc. etc. Keeping the glue in the fridge SEEMS to be the only thing I tried that I thought made some difference. I can't prove if even that is worth doing, but it seems to keep the glue "fresh" longer than not refrigerating it. But, like I said, I can't prove it.

Lynn

 

[redfishsc]

I am with Lynn on this one.


I tried new CA, literally brand new from Monty. Still hazed, and seemingly in the exact same spots it did last time.


My new method is to seal it all up and fill the grain with CA, scuff sand with 320 and then shoot with two coats of conversion varnish---- allow to cure for 5 hours (or overnight, whichever) and micromesh. Insane gloss, never a haze. I have sprayed more than a thousand gallons of conversion varnish on cabinetry, it's fantastic stuff.

Most of you have not heard of it, but it's basically lacquer on steriods (compare Rick Moranis to Schwarzenegger). I'll have to work up a tutorial on it for those who want something more sure fire and IMO less frustrating.

But not now....got pens to make...