Process for CA

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wizical

Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2007
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423
Location
Los Angeles, ca, USA.
Ive been reading on how to improve my CA finish on here, and here is my process i take, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

MM up to 12000,

3-4 coats of thin CA, sanding in between Coats

sand the last coat,

use the beall buffing system three step to buff it.

ive had pretty good results, I was wondering if anyone uses anything similiar to this process, thank you
 
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BLO/CA

You might wish to try BLO/CA. I don't sand between coats and find that applying multiple coats is easy and gives a smoother finish than CA alone.

I have used CA alone in the past and when I wish to avoid color change that BLO can cause. If the finish is a little rough, EEE will help smooth it.

The important thing is to keep trying different methods until you find one that works for you.

Larry
 
CA

Hy !

I have also tried sanding in between CA coats, but end up with small spiral lines that way (even with lenghtwise sanding). So I put on 4 coats of CA (2 medium, 2 thick), wet send and finish with Beal buff system.
 
I use a CA/BLO for a total of 4 coats of each. No sanding between coats and lathe set at around 1300 rpm. Get a great shine with no problems (so far ;-0)
 
I sand with 300 sand paper dry, than MM 2400 to 12K (wood I stay dry, antler I do wet). 1 or 2 coats thin CA 6 to 16 coats medium or thick. Dry sand with 300 until all the humps and swirls are out, than wet sand with mm 2400 through 12000. Apply Renaissants wax. I all do all my sanding at 1200 rpms. apply the CA at 178 rpms. I put the CA on with paper towel folded 4 times. Pour some CA on towel apply, turn towel over repeat, tear off used part of towel and repeat. Spray in between application with small mist of accelerator. Learned it from utube video or some such thing done by an Australian gentleman. Had a real accent hard for me to understand, but it works good, glad I watched it. Wish I knew where it was...
 
You did not mention what grade mm you start with between the coats of CA. I start with 4,000 and work to 12,000 mm. I learned the hard way that it is easy to sand through the CA if you start too coarse (ie, 1,500 mm).
 
I have only had three problems ever with CA finish.
1. sanding through the CA, on some woods this is really hard to repair if the finish has been polished at all. the old coat shows through no matter what you do. SO it all has to be sanded off.
2. the CA turning cloudy. I am convinced that this is due to the CA developing to mush heat while curing. Thicker CA cures slower and might help. thinner coats might also.
3. GLuing the bushing to the blanks or gluing the blank to the mandrel. Fix this with a coat of wax on anything you do not want the CA to stick to.

I get a smoother finish by first gating a smother blank. I do what I call a fill. I run the lathe on slow (my lathe only has three speeds) while sanding the blank with 400 grit sandpaper I will add CA glue to the wood dust. this creates a past that fills the grain and leave a really smooth surface to polish.
I then sand the blank with all grades of MM. this helps polish the wood itself. It it this that I will start applying my CA finish to.

I do not use BLO or buff. I've never used either so cannot comment as to wether either gives better results. I do like the ides that the CA would start at smoother and found that applying it with wax paper in thinner coats helps. I've been telling myself to try BLO for years but simply havn't thought of it when I was at the hardware store.
 
Well, I've found the best way to get a nice, pretty gloss on CA is to use the CA as a sealer and then topcoat it with lacquer! I fight the dreaded "dull spots" if I try to stick with a pure-CA finish.
 
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