Learning CA

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
sgimbel

sgimbel

Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2008
Messages
675
Location
Round Rock, Texas
I've watched the videos, I've read the explanations so I figred it was time to learn how. I took some pine sanded down to 600 grit. Folded up a paper towell, put a few drops medium CA on it and moved it very quickly. Hit it with accelerator and did it again and again. After 4 coats stopped and my finish was very rough and seamed to have paper towell in it. Does the towell need to be very narrow? My towell is about 1 1/2" wide but I'm only putting CA in thr middle. What am I doing wrong? I'm going to practice on junk wood until I figure this out.
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
probably keeping the paper towel on too long. If the glue starts to harden while the PT is in contact, or hardens in bumps, it will tend to grab or shred the PT and solidify it in the CA. I like to just keep it on long enough to spread it out. If you want to smooth it out, I would suggest putting a few drops of Boiled Lindseed Oil (BLO) on the paper towel and letting it soak in before putting the CA on the paper towel. The BLO will help prevent the PT from sticking as the CA hardens. You want to be carefull not to get the BLO between the layers of CA, as it will prevent the next coat from sticking and cause cloudyness...
 
I usually use a paper towel that is folded to about 3/4" as that is more than enough surface to put the CA on. My experience, albeit very limited, is that this works best when I do 2 additional things after sanding down to 400/600 - whatever your comfortable with. I then put on a coat of sanding sealer on the wood. Be sure to do the ends to seal them also. After this I go the BLO/CA route, first putting on about 2 coats of thin CA (no accelerator) and then switching to medium CA. You will know you are doing it right when you get a very irritating small while appling the mixture. Have the lathe turning as fast as possible. You getting paper on the wood means that your fold is too big and the CA is catching the part of the paper that has no CA on it. Many swear that they don't need the BLO and that works too. I've tried both ways and find the using BLO and CA works the best for me. After about 8 coats I start wet sanding with micro mesh up to 12,000 grit. Then is polish with either Hut or a headlight lens polish and then a wax with Turtle wax ICE.

If you are getting rough spots before you have the number of coats that you want on you can always sand things down. I've wet sanded using 600 & 800 wet sandpaper and then resumed the BLO/CA.

I did these pens on the weekend. The second one from the right I had to resand and redo because the CA would not adhere to the cocobolo wood. I may have started to apply the CA before the acetone that I wiped the blank down with had totally dried. Taking a picture to show the shine on the wood makes the whole blank look washed out.

Hope this helps. It will come with practice.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0006_edited.jpg
    IMG_0006_edited.jpg
    53.5 KB · Views: 198
Try using some waxpaper instead of the paper towel or one of the baggies that the kit parts come in . Also try without the accelerator , it hardens the outside but can leave pockets of uncured CA under the hardened layer . Use the simplest method first then complicate it .
 
I found that household paper towels do not stand as much abuse as the blue one that you can find in places like Home Depot, and other places like it. I nearly gave up od the Ca finish when I first started using it beacuse the paper towels grabing. I found that you have to move quick and don't leave it on for long periods of time (seconds), once I learned CA I never turned back
 
toddlajoie said:
probably keeping the paper towel on too long. If the glue starts to harden while the PT is in contact, or hardens in bumps, it will tend to grab or shred the PT and solidify it in the CA. I like to just keep it on long enough to spread it out. If you want to smooth it out, I would suggest putting a few drops of Boiled Lindseed Oil (BLO) on the paper towel and letting it soak in before putting the CA on the paper towel. The BLO will help prevent the PT from sticking as the CA hardens. You want to be carefull not to get the BLO between the layers of CA, as it will prevent the next coat from sticking and cause cloudyness...
Click to expand...


Todd, I use Blo/ca on every coat-a drop of blo and then ca on a blue PT for every coat and leave the PT on the blank until it is dry, moving back and forth very quickly. I know a lot say it will cause cloudiness but so far no problem for me. But I also know that there are almost as many techniques as there are people doing it. I just stick to this because it is working for me at this time. I also don't have to sand after applying the BLO/CA finish. (Most of the time)
 
jocat54 said:
Todd, I use Blo/ca on every coat-a drop of blo and then ca on a blue PT for every coat and leave the PT on the blank until it is dry, moving back and forth very quickly. I know a lot say it will cause cloudiness but so far no problem for me. But I also know that there are almost as many techniques as there are people doing it. I just stick to this because it is working for me at this time. I also don't have to sand after applying the BLO/CA finish. (Most of the time)
Click to expand...

I second this I have used Blo/Ca with BLO between each layer but it is easier to start simple and master that then modify after you have the basics
 
sorry this post is getting a little old, but I'm a newbie to the CA too. My first one (w/o accelorator) was ridged in the direction of turn. I attributed this to working with a poor quality paper towel. I was using those paper sack brown ones that schools &, in this case, the military base, had available. I watched Russ Fairfield's video on youtube (almost too many times) and switched to Viva or similar higher end towels. I had good luck the next turn using this. I had a little paper towel grab & get in the finish last weekend. I think this is cuz I toweled too late in the CA drying process. I put about a nickel (5-7 drops on a clean area of paper towel, for each side of a 2 piece i.e. slimline or cigar) and then start in middle and go to end, sweep back to other end and leave it, or if looks like there's excess, one more pass in ONE direction. Do same for other 1/2 of pen and then spin it for 30 secs or so then turn it off for 5 mins or more to let it dry and set up before sanding between coats. Just my 1.5 cents. (the market took a dive today so my 2 cents is de-valued :P)
 
Sounds like you're trying to use the CA like you would a friction polish. I've seen others do this, since most people start out using friction polish. There is no benefit to keeping the paper towel on it. I zip across once (twice at most) and that's it. It's not in contact with the wood for more than a second.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom