KOA...what a PIA!

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Florida Marine

Florida Marine

Member
Joined
May 16, 2011
Messages
403
Location
Jennings, FL
Anyone ever turn it?

Used a nicely figured piece for the top of a cartridge pen at the request of a friend at work...what a pain to finish!

I couldn't recreat what I did tonight, it was sand, CA, sand more, more CA, CA, CA, CA...sand and polish finally.

Got it acceptable, but not as good as I normally can with other woods.

Is this typical?
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
I have had a different experience. One of the easiest, nicest woods to use. You must have got a "lemon"
 
There have only been a few woods on which I could not get CA to work as a finish....and KOA is not one of them. I too agree....a very nice wood.
Do a good turn daily!
Don
 
Usually it's the oily woods like cocobolo that can cause fits!

Was the Koa good and dry? If there was even a little moisture it could cause some problems. :confused:

In what way exactly did it fight you?
 
I think you get the idea. You have some "funky" koa. I suspect it is to soft due to dry rot or similar. I suggest you toss it to the trash and get some new pieces.
 
I turn and CA-finish Koa pens all the time. All the koa I use is fully air dried, which means about 13% MC here in Hawaii (for wood stored in non-humidity controlled spaces such as my shop). Some times there will be a piece that refuses to finish up properly until the CA is built up VERY thick. I don't know why, I just know THAT:confused: So if you have the problem, you can fix it with more layers of CA. This is a rare occurrence, maybe one out of every 100 koa pens.
 
Figures I got the 100th on the first try! I ended up just layering on thin CA, and more and more...

It came out ok- took pics but they are worse them my normal horrible.

I have 5 1/2 other pieces that he gave me, so I will try one of them out to see. Seems my experience is not the norm!

This is the first time I have had issues with a CA finish.

Thanks for the responses!
 
I just had the same problem yesterday! It must be how dry the wood is? Mine was VERY dry.
Alice


Florida Marine said:
Anyone ever turn it?

Used a nicely figured piece for the top of a cartridge pen at the request of a friend at work...what a pain to finish!

I couldn't recreat what I did tonight, it was sand, CA, sand more, more CA, CA, CA, CA...sand and polish finally.

Got it acceptable, but not as good as I normally can with other woods.

Is this typical?
Click to expand...
 
elody21 said:
I just had the same problem yesterday! It must be how dry the wood is? Mine was VERY dry.
Alice


Florida Marine said:
Anyone ever turn it?

Used a nicely figured piece for the top of a cartridge pen at the request of a friend at work...what a pain to finish!

I couldn't recreat what I did tonight, it was sand, CA, sand more, more CA, CA, CA, CA...sand and polish finally.

Got it acceptable, but not as good as I normally can with other woods.

Is this typical?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Yes, it was pretty dry also...

I have 5 and 1/2 more pieces of it, will have to see if this piece was just an anomaly.
 
never had a problem with KOA. just turned a civil war pen on friday with KOA and it turned out great. CA has always worked just fine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom