Learning to use CA

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
W

wright_714

Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2010
Messages
63
Location
Moraine, Ohio
I have read quite a few posts on using CA, but I haven't gotten one right yet either. From what I can gather, a lot of people use the following:

BLO, 8-10 coats thin CA, MM to 12000........should I work all the way through the MM to 12000 or start with one in the middle (3600)???

Is there another step after this???? Hoping someone who has success with this can guide me....It has been easy to turn a beautiful blank and screw up the finish.
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Wher you start depends on the condition of your finish. If it's fairly smooth you or you don't need to take the diameter down (ie thick finish) you might start in the middle. A rough or ridged finish might require that you start and go all the way through your MM.
After MMing it depends a lot on preference. You might want to give it a little extra pop by using something like a plastic polish. if you're happy after MM all you might need is a coat of Ren Wax or TSW. Good Luck!
 
Once we have applied our CA and know that the blank is .003 in diameter larger than the fittings we go through all of the micro mesh. From 1500 to 12000. Once through the MM we use Novus 3 heavy scratch remover and then Novus 2 fine scratch remover. After we are happy with the finish and the fit to our fitting is flush we will apply a coat of Renaissance wax.

A couple of things to mention here. You are from Ohio. If your humidity is high when you are applying the CA, it can cause problems. Too thin of a CA finish is easy to sand through (especially if you are heavy handed like me). This is in part why we apply enough CA to make the blank a little larger and then sand down to the appropriate size for the fittings. We also have several sets of MM. One for light color woods, dark woods, PR and CA ONLY.
It is important to keep the MM clean. They will load up with white powdered CA pretty quick. We wipe each one several times on our apron (denim not leather) when working a finish.
 
Thanks for the advice......I will see how it goes, but I didn't even consider how the humidity might affect things. I haven't been using the thin CA yet, but I will try it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom