Keeping color crisp

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Rick K.

Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2009
Messages
4
Location
Hanoverton,Ohio
I'm sure I can't be the only one... I purchased a segmented pen blank from woodcraft and turned it for a PSI guardian it all went great until the sanding. The darker wood almost bleeds into the light wood. It may be blood wood and maple. I can't post pic right now but it is a woodcraft #15. And I just cant keep the lines crisp and the maple clean. Tried nothing between grits, also tried water which was really bad , then alcohol wasn't as bad as water but still not good. Looked the best just going between grits but then CA finish sealed in "dust" as I figured it would. Sanded down again and looking for suggestions.... help :-) also where is the best deal to buy CA?
 
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Don't sand it. Make your finish before you CA with your skew. Just do a quick light pass with your first and second CA to seal it up and go from there. This is what I do with my Honduran Rosewood that has light and dark wood.
 
Maple is really bad for doing that. You can try blowing out the dust with an air compressor. For me what works best is to either use a sharp scraper or a skew as a scraper and gently turn down until the sawdust is gone then don't sand just finish. A CA finish works well. Just be careful if you use the skew as a scraper to not let the ends dig into the blank.
 
One of my students just made a bloodwood and maple segmented pen. She had to apply a few sealing coats of CA to the Maple to keep it from turning red as well. 3 coats CA did the trick. Thin CA will soak in well, but she just used Medium. Good luck.
 
You can also try burnishing the wood after your final pass with a skew. Burnishing closes up the pores and and presents a decent surface for the next finishing steps.
 
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