Refinishing just isn't as fun

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Dehn0045

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A while back I switched to Mercury Flex CA. I'm not sure if it was my technique, the CA, or something else (vengeful goddess) but over the course of about 6 months the finish started to develop tiny cracks. It's been another 6 months or so since I first noticed the problem and it has only gotten worse. Luckily I was in a fairly slow period of my pen making and I didn't make too many with the Mercury Flex before I switched back to my tried and true BSI. This week I still had 4 pens with the bad finish and decided to bite the bullet and get them refinished. Interestingly the bad CA came off the skew like dust while turning, not the usual long plastic ribbons. Other than that interesting tidbit and struggling (and learning a few things) with disassembly, it has been a long hard slog. Making the same exact pen again is painful, but I hope they hold up better this time. Much respect to you production guys out there.
 
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keithbyrd

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Sam - having been there I know the frustration of refinishing! I had the same problem using Stick Fast and switched to Mercury and the problem went away! I still have one to refinish!
 

TonyL

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I know the owner of Mercury; he (Eric) lives and it is made close to my home. He's a good guy. He is very eager to receive feedback; any feedback. He will also send send you more, by simply photographing the lot numbers on the back of the bottle. It is just an option; I'm not trying to persuade you to use it. I simply left a message (actually just to asked about shelf-life...my stuff was 18 months old) and he called back the next day.
Happy finishing!

Mercury Adhesives HQ
1353 Riverstone Pkwy
Ste. 120-257
Canton, GA 30114

Voice: 770-988-GLUE (4583)
Fax: 678-609-8221
Eric Fether <eric@mercuryadhesives.com>
 
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webberville, mi
I had a "tiny cracking" issue with my CA finishes a while back and I really do think that can be due to "old" CA. I switched to a newer container and the issue went away. Also, I now store my CA supply in the shop fridge in a pretty heavy plastic bag. Seems to be working.
FWIW
 

Dehn0045

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Sam - having been there I know the frustration of refinishing! I had the same problem using Stick Fast and switched to Mercury and the problem went away! I still have one to refinish!

It's funny because I know a lot of folks swear by Mercury and I haven't heard of anyone having similar issues with it. Stickfast is one that I have heard quite a few issues. Good luck with refinishing the last of yours, I just got my last one done. Feeling relieved!

I know the owner of Mercury; he (Eric) lives and it is made close to my home. He's a good guy. He is very eager to receive feedback; any feedback. He will also send send you more, by simply photographing the lot numbers on the back of the bottle. It is just an option; I'm not trying to persuade you to use it. I simply left a message (actually just to asked about shelf-life...my stuff was 18 months old) and he called back the next day.
Happy finishing!

Mercury Adhesives HQ
1353 Riverstone Pkwy
Ste. 120-257
Canton, GA 30114

Voice: 770-988-GLUE (4583)
Fax: 678-609-8221
Eric Fether <eric@mercuryadhesives.com>

Thanks Tony, but I really don't think it was the CA, more likely it was my technique. Mercury seems to be really good stuff, that's why I tried it, but I never really had a problem with BSI so going back to it was not a problem. I'll probably stick with BSI until I run into a problem with BSI that I can't live with.

In case anyone is curious and following along attached is a photo of the last one that I refinished today. You can see some hairline cracks that are visible to the eye. There is also a slight haze across the entire finish. All of the pens had the haze on the surface and a few had the visible slightly larger cracks

IMG_20200501_204737.jpg
 

Dehn0045

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Mar 19, 2017
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I had a "tiny cracking" issue with my CA finishes a while back and I really do think that can be due to "old" CA. I switched to a newer container and the issue went away. Also, I now store my CA supply in the shop fridge in a pretty heavy plastic bag. Seems to be working.
FWIW

Thanks Ted, I have definitely heard of the old CA issue. My understanding is that the CA I got came directly from Mercury (sold on Amazon) because they are picky about shelf life. Maybe something got mixed up, but I don't have any reason to believe the bottle was old.
 
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