How do you know you still have a finish?

[angboy]

Sometimes when I do a CA finish, I end up with ridges or blurriness and end up having to go down to a pretty low grit of sandpaper to get it all out. My question is, sometimes by the time I've finished sanding again til it's shiny, I wonder if I haven't sanded off all of the CA and still have no finish. Anyone know of any easy way to tell what's left? Sometimes I'm sure there is finish left, it still looks shinier than the bare wood looked. Should I just assume if I can't see that that maybe I did sand it all off and go back and do it again?

 

[Dario]

There is no easy way to tell for me...other than visual inspection. This can either be obvious or not depending on the type of wood.

Try wiping the suspect area with your bare hand, if you have bare wood it should show the difference after a second or 2 especially on the transition area.

Good luck!

 

[mrcook4570]

Look at the color of the sanding dust. CA dust will be white. If you sand through it, the color of the wood will show up on the sandpaper. Also, hold the blank skew to a fluorescent shop light so that a very long and wide band of light reflects on the blank. Slowly rotate the blank and look for changes in the shape and texture of the reflected light.

 

[angboy]

Thanks very much for these ideas- I'll try them out on the next pen.