Problems with finihing Wenge

[allenworsham]

I have been trying to make 3 Cigar pens for some guys at church who want them. They want them out of wenge as they like the wood, and so do I. But the problem is that I keep ending up with white dust getting into the grain when doing the final sand of the CA prior to micro mesh or buffing. The wenge is very brittle and it gets lots of little pin holes and longer shreds. I use compressed air at every change of grit in sand paper and micromesh. I have also used denatured alcohol wipe downs.I have been doing a seal coat of CA prior to sanding to fill in the holes, but when I sand it back down to the wood, new holes appears. I tried using a bunch of coats of thin and medium CA putting it on heavy to try and fill up the grain, but I still end up with the dust getting into the hole regardless of what I do. Over the past couple of days I have been through 6 sets of blanks and all of them had to be tossed as they looked terrible. The CA finish looked great, but the white dust getting in the holes could not be removed.

So unless there is something that I am missing, I am just going to pass on doing any more wenge and use another wood like cocobolo which has strong grain patterns like the wenge, but no brittleness.I will also have to pick up some replacement cigar pen tubes since I am now down 6 sets.

 

[cowchaser]

Can't help with the spots, but if you can dig the blanks out of the trash just turn the wood off the tubes and save them.

 

[rlharding]

Pre fill the holes with the dust from the turning.

 

[karlkuehn]

Like Ruthy says, you need to wet sand with CA to build a wood-dust slurry to fill the funkies.

 

[its_virgil]

You can try using a sanding sealer, a slurry of sanding dust and CA, or not sanding the CA. I apply several layers of CA and never sand any of the CA coats. After the last coat if go straight to buffing.

I think several penturners apply very thick coats of CA and then sanding is required. I apply several thin layers of med CA and then two coats of thin. Not having to sand sure makes the finish faster. But, there are as many different approaches to a CA finish as here are penturners using CA to finish pens.

Good luck. BTW, there are many many nicer woods to turn than wenge but what you choose to turn is not my business so I'll say ...
Do s good turn daily!
Don

 

[karlkuehn]

Originally posted by its_virgil

You can try using a sanding sealer, a slurry of sanding dust and CA, or not sanding the CA. I apply several layers of CA and never sand any of the CA coats. After the last coat if go straight to buffing.

I think several penturners apply very thick coats of CA and then sanding is required. I apply several thin layers of med CA and then two coats of thin. Not having to sand sure makes the finish faster. But, there are as many different approaches to a CA finish as here are penturners using CA to finish pens.

Good luck. BTW, there are many many nicer woods to turn than wenge but what you choose to turn is not my business so I'll say ...
Do s good turn daily!
Don

HEY NOW! What is this?! My chosen CA/BLO mentor of choice going back on his steps?! Didn't I read that slurry step from you? heh

 

[mick]

Like Don, I never sand between CA coats. I start with a coat or 2 of thin before I ever sand to act as a sealer. Then I apply 3 to 4 coats of thin after sanding thru 600 or 800 grit, blowing off with compressed air between grits. I then go to 3 to 4 coats of medium CA depending on any open grain or such. Once I have all that I sand from 320 back thru 1000 and then polish on the lathe with Hut plastic polish followed by a coat of TSW. I've done quite a few Wenge pens this way and so far no dust.

 

[VisExp]

Perhaps you could take this opportunity to try a different finish? Alamocdc has a good tutorial on lacquer dipping.

http://content.penturners.org/articles/2008/lacquer_dipping.pdf

 

[its_virgil]

You did and I still use the slurry. I didn't mean to imply I didn't. I was giving some other choices.

But, I have stopped sanding between coats, unless I totally screw up and need to sand down and start over. Yep, it still happens. But, I've noticed that my finish started looking better before sanding than after so most of my sanding between coats and at the end has stopped. I suppose I need to amend my tutorial.

I also apply the CA and oil different ways for different woods. I can't quite explain how I decide but sometimes I apply the CA and oil as I do in my tutorial and sometimes I use Russ's method of CA first and oil second and I even mix the two on the same pen at times.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

Originally posted by karlkuehn


HEY NOW! What is this?! My chosen CA/BLO mentor of choice going back on his steps?! Didn't I read that slurry step from you? heh

 

[karlkuehn]

Originally posted by its_virgil

...

But, I have stopped sanding between coats, unless I totally screw up and need to sand down and start over. Yep, it still happens. But, I've noticed that my finish started looking better before sanding than after so most of my sanding between coats and at the end has stopped. I suppose I need to amend my tutorial.

I also apply the CA and oil different ways for different woods. I can't quite explain how I decide but sometimes I apply the CA and oil as I do in my tutorial and sometimes I use Russ's method of CA first and oil second and I even mix the two on the same pen at times.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

I know what you mean. My finishes rarely go on the same every time as I've gotten more used to it. Some days things just seem to behave differently and switching to another method is the best solution rather than bulldogging my way through one way. A lot of times I don't even sand the CA/BLO any more, but take it straight to buff. Other times I strip the whole mess off and start again. Go figure.

 

[mtodd]

Hey Guys, as you can see I'm a newbie (1st post). Thanks for all of your GREAT info....

I've turned about 80-90 pens and I've gotten the CA/BLO or BLO/CA finish down fairly well except I can never get a smooth finish that does not require final sanding and buffing. I've used the methods/tutorials mentioned by Don and Russ, but in responce to Karl's comment about no sanding and "straight to the buff"; I need another tip! I can't get a finish without the ripples that form when applying the CA. It's not that bad but always requitres some sanding.

Thanks again,
Melvin

 

[leehljp]

IF you want to experiment in the future, you can stabilize the winge with vac and pressure. This will probably help considerably. I would also sugggest the thicker coatings.

As to Karl's suggestions, there are a few people that are gifted and make things look simple because of their natural talent and ability, but most people have to work at it. He is gifted and has a natural talent, but it is not as easy as one would think to just bypass final sanding. Skill, experience, talent (and usually luck) determine this.

As suggested, you can bypass the sanding in some or many cases UNTIL the FINAL coat is put on and then finish sand and polish.