terrymiller
Member
This post was also posted elsewhere I am not trying to get recognition just trying to get a finish that may be easier to use once it is dialed in. Hopefully this helps some people out. If someone has already done this and posted the steps please let me know before I do a whole big long tutorial. I started thinking about different finishes available and how they work then it dawned on me why could we not use the Plexiglas solution that we use to stabilize blanks so I gave it a shot.
Started out turned pen with whatever style you like.
Sanded upto about 600 grit.
At this point I took the Plexi solution that I had. The solution was about as thick as syrup to start. I tried the solution like this and did not work so I thinned this down to about a little thicker than thin CA. The solution was mixed in a squeeze bottle that came from sally's beauty supply.
With the lathe running at about 1800 rpm's I started applying the solution with the bottle and a folded paper towel. The first attempt I tried about 5 coats but during sanding sanded it all off. I settled on 10 coats. This seems like alot but remember that this a thin solution. This whole process took about 5-10 minutes tops. Very impressed with the drying time with this stuff seemed as though it was about the same as the thin CA.
After I built up what I felt was enough material I then started wet sanding at 1000 grit wet dry for a brief amount of time then moved all the way up through MM grits.
The finishing steps were to use a scratch removing compound. I used some stuff from Wally World GS-27 followed by Meguires car wax.
While I'm not trying to take away from Fangars finishing technique it comes with a steep learning curve. This finish seems to be fairly simple. The toughest part about it is finding the right consistency for the solution. I dont know how the finish will hold up over time. I would think that it should hold up fairly well do to the fact that it is plastic. If there are any questions I will try my best to answer them for you. Please feel free to experiment with this and keep everyone updated. Russ Fairfield said that he uses a similiar technique only he uses BLO to smooth it out while still wet.
This a photo of the finish on the first pen tried:
Started out turned pen with whatever style you like.
Sanded upto about 600 grit.
At this point I took the Plexi solution that I had. The solution was about as thick as syrup to start. I tried the solution like this and did not work so I thinned this down to about a little thicker than thin CA. The solution was mixed in a squeeze bottle that came from sally's beauty supply.
With the lathe running at about 1800 rpm's I started applying the solution with the bottle and a folded paper towel. The first attempt I tried about 5 coats but during sanding sanded it all off. I settled on 10 coats. This seems like alot but remember that this a thin solution. This whole process took about 5-10 minutes tops. Very impressed with the drying time with this stuff seemed as though it was about the same as the thin CA.
After I built up what I felt was enough material I then started wet sanding at 1000 grit wet dry for a brief amount of time then moved all the way up through MM grits.
The finishing steps were to use a scratch removing compound. I used some stuff from Wally World GS-27 followed by Meguires car wax.
While I'm not trying to take away from Fangars finishing technique it comes with a steep learning curve. This finish seems to be fairly simple. The toughest part about it is finding the right consistency for the solution. I dont know how the finish will hold up over time. I would think that it should hold up fairly well do to the fact that it is plastic. If there are any questions I will try my best to answer them for you. Please feel free to experiment with this and keep everyone updated. Russ Fairfield said that he uses a similiar technique only he uses BLO to smooth it out while still wet.
This a photo of the finish on the first pen tried: