Proper way to finish a worthless wood?

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capcrnch

capcrnch

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More specific..
I'm deal with an Ankrom Exotic burl right now, and i'm in hell.

Do I treat this like wood?
When I did that, I found i'm still getting many fine scratches in the resin portion.

Do I treat it like a resin?
When I did that, I worked up some sort of "gunk" on the wood portions that I was only able to eliminate by sanding. Now go back to question 1. Rinse. Repeat.

I'm going nuts. I've sanding this thing down SO much further than I wanted to because i'm constantly going back over it. Every time I do that, I feel like i'm screwing it up even more.

Tips? Ideas?
 
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The rule of thumb is to treat it as though it were wood. For me I usually sand wood up to about 800 before finishing. I'll go higher with the resins because I am not putting a finish on it. For combos, I generally sand them up to at least 800 and then finish with CA just like I would do with a wood piece.
 
I sand to 800 wet dry paper (dry) then start with 2400 mm. The resin shows scratches you thought you had gotten rid of, so you must be sure that you sand lengthwise with the 800 till all scratches are gone. I usually hit mine with a buffer and EEE just to reveal all the hidden scratches. I buff at a 45 degree angle in one direction only at this point, and if I see radial scratches, I need to sand lengthwise more. If I see lengthwise scratches, I make sure I get a new CLEAN strip of sandpaper, sand lightly with the lathe on, then again lengthwise till I think all the scratches are gone. If I see 45 degree scratches, I clean or replace the buff. Once I'm scratch free, I clean with acetone, and lay up my ca layers, and finish like any other ca finish.

If the scratches are not there when you buff the first time, but show up after the ca is on, you need to take a look at your materials and procedures. It may be that the resin is just showing up problems that are masked by the grain in wood pens. Remember that dirty paper towels, fingers, MM pads or anything else can reintroduce scratches into your carefully descratched surface. I've had dirt on the top of my plastic polish cap get onto my paper towel and put fine radial scratches back on a ca finish that was just almost perfect after the 12000 mm. Gotta hate that.
 
When your done sanding with the 800 grit, put the lathe on it's highest speed and very lightly go back and forth along the length of the blank in a rapid wiping motion with #0000 steel wool. The next step is to clean the blank off with compressed air, then repeat the rapid wiping process with a dry clean paper towel this time. Inspect for sanding lines and scratches. Apply your CA and polish as required.

Note: Make sure you have excellent lighting at the lathe.


Dave
 
when you put the CA on, it will fill in the scratches on the acrylic. Just make sure the blank is clean of any sanding dust first.
 
It is possible that the scratches that you are seeing in the resin are the result of the FIRST (coarsest) grit that you used. If you do not completely remove those scratches with the next grit, further sanding will result in merely 'polishing' those scratches, which will make them more obvious.
 
I'm very picky about scratches in resin also...

the last burl/resin combo pen I did, I got awesome results by buffing prior to CA finish.
 
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