what went wrong here (and how can I fix it)?

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mbower

Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2008
Messages
55
Location
Ashburn, VA, USA.
I made this pen on Saturday. The wood is padauk. It looked great.

But on Sunday, I saw the white spots shown in the photo.

The finishing steps on this pen were:

Sanding 120 grit, 220, 320, 400, 800, 1200
Micromesh through 12,000 (all 9 steps)
Paperbag (brown bag is like 25,000)

Mylands Sander/sealer - 1 coat
EEE wax - 1 coat
Mylands Friction Polish - 2 coats (maybe 3)
Ren Wax - 2 coats

Can anyone tell me:

1) what caused the white spots?
2) can I salvage this pen?

Thanks in advance.

Here is the image:

whitespots3.jpg
 
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First thing that comes to mind is even though you used sanding sealer you did not fill in the grain with the sealer. After that the wax got trapped in the grain and then dried.
 
Your pictures are WAY too big.
As the others said, you are getting sanding dust in the pores. Seal the pores - it might take several coats of sealer or thin CA. Paddock has deep pores that wick the sealer from the surface and keep absorbing until filled all the way rather than just letting the sealer do its work on the surface. Paddock seems to does this more than most woods. At least this has been my experience.
 
Based on what Terry said:

1) there's nothing I can do with this pen?

2) how do I make sure I get the filler in the holes before applying wax?

3) would CA/BLO finish worked different (and not filled in the holes with wax)?
 
Disassemble the pen, sand it back to bare wood and re-finish. Seal the grain 3-4 times with padauk. Apply the sealer liberally, wipe off the excess, allow to dry, sand back to wood. By about the third of fourth sealer coat you will have a nice flush surface and you can finish as you like. I recommend lacquer, but CA (in any of its combinations) or other finishes will work.
 
What color is the sanding sealer?? White??

The sanding sealer did what it was supposed to do - fill the grain
and pores of the wood. The only problem is that sanding sealer has
a white stuff as a filler and sanding lubricant that fills the
pores of a dark wood with white stuff. You woun't see it until the
next day when the lacquer has completely dried. Padauk does that,
unless you leave enough wood to sand back to the bottom of the
pores and grain and remove all of the white stuff.

Do as Lou said - use clear lacquer. Abd then, clean out the sanding
dust with a tooth brush before putting on the next coat.
 
Ok, here's what I did. I did what Lou said. Took it apart and sanded down to bare wood. Then resanded through the MM step (forget the paper bag this time <g>). Then instead of the steps I did before, I did the following: thick CA/BLO, 8 times with sanding (800 grit) between. Then applied friction polish and ren wax. THEN (shoot), I noticed some raised spots from the CA/BLO. So did it again. This time it came out better than it started but any good pen turner would look at it and know I had refinished it.

But thanks to you folks, I now know to be more careful with Padauk. I do like the color of the pen and the finish is nice. Just not perfect.

Thanks, everyone, for the help.

(And, yes, that image is too big. My 'math' (for resizing) was WAY off. I'll do better next time. I think this might have been my first post with an imbedded image. Hopefully I can remember what I learned today.)
 
Humid environments are the primary cause of lacquer "blush." Some blush worse than others. The first thing you should buy is some aerosol cans of blush retarder/ blush control. Be careful using these on the finished product though as they have a tendency to cause a 'halo' wherever you spray. Blush retarders are great for coats prior to the last.

I use a lacquer retarder in my finish in high humidity conditions as well as some MAK (Methyl Amyl Ketone) which is an ingredient of lacquer thinner that improves flow-out and slows down dry time. This usually does the trick. Once you play with the mixtures and get it right you will figure out what to do to stop the blushing problem.

After the fact, a very fine mist of lacquer thinner sprayed on the blushed area removes it. It is almost like magic.
 
mbower. Padauk, Oak & a lot of wood has thar porus grain. My best luck & hides the voids is to sand with thin CA & 400 paper. Just before you get to the final sanding, hold the sandpaper under the blank & drip thin CA on it. Keep it wet & use the slurry to fill the grain. It will match the color of the wood, naturally, & fill it in smooth. Then you can finish it however. You can go back to CA or just use the Mylands & Ren. Wax.
 
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