White Specs in Deep Glossy CA Finish

[randyrls]

I'm building up a deep gloss finish in CA on a pen, but I'm getting white specs buried in the finish.

I think I'm going to have to remove all the finish, but don't want to if I don't have to. :frown:

Has anyone ever gotten this, and is there a way to prevent it if I redo the finish???

Signed..... Depressed..

 

[Drstrangefart]

I've gotten that from low-quality paper towels, trying to apply a new layer of medium before the most renent one's completely dry, etc. Try upgrading to the huge box of Scott shop paper towels, and give the medium/thick CA a minute or two on the piece before zapping it with accellerator. And then make absolutely sure it's dry before you do any MicroMesh work.

 

[ctubbs]

My favorite application medium is still the brown Taco Bell napkins. They do not shred and leave crap in the finish and they tend to apply a smooth finish. Often I can go rite to MM from CA app. YMMV and usually does. I have also managed to get the white spots from applying Accelarator when there was too thick a layer of wet CA. That will sometimes the CA to turn white.
Charels

 

[Freethinker]

On my earliest attempts at CA, I too often got those aggravating little white specks.

I finally came to believe, after doing a lot of reading about it, that a tiny bit of water (moisture) was getting introduced from somewhere, maybe even in the denatured alcohol I was using as a wipe down.

I switched to lacquer thinner as a wipe down between grits and have not had the white spots since.

 

[RDH79]

I get the white specs but they are from sandin the Ca ( CA Dust) Then appling fresh Ca over top. The dust from the Ca gets in little cracks in the wood. So I use excelertor to clean the dust out of cracks before I apply CA.
Thats what I do.
O yea to get rid of the specs you will have to sand down to the wood.

 

[aggromere]

I have gotten the awful white specs or bigger in my CA finish. In my case I believe it is a small void in the CA finish around the cigar bands I am using. I thinkit is sanding dust caught in the void. If you have already covered it with additional coats of ca the only way I know of getting it out is sanding back down through the coat where the dust is. If it is not covered I have been able to blow it out with canned air or in some cases pick it out with a dental pic and then put a drop of ca in the hole and let it cure and then sand smooth.

 

[Freethinker]

I have gotten the awful white specs or bigger in my CA finish. In my case I believe it is a small void in the CA finish around the cigar bands I am using. I thinkit is sanding dust caught in the void. If you have already covered it with additional coats of ca the only way I know of getting it out is sanding back down through the coat where the dust is.

I had always thought that any remaining (very fine) CA dust --provided it is pure CA dust and none of the wood itself makes up any of the dust-- would simply "melt" into the following coat of CA as it was being applied.

I have never felt that the CA dust was the source of the white specs....I could be wrong. I'd like to hear Russ Fairfield weigh in on this. Those specs are really annoying when they happen.

 

[KDM]

... a tiny bit of water (moisture) was getting introduced from somewhere, maybe even in the denatured alcohol I was using as a wipe down.

I think this is your answer. I seem to remember reading that water causes teh CA to cure faster (or maybe it's the starving of oxygen?) So, if you hit the CA with a drop of water, it cures more rapidly at one point than another.

I often get CA go cloudy when I hit it with DNA. I think it's basically because I'm too impatient to wait long enough. It always disappears after the next application, though.

 

[spnemo]

It could be from dust in the air or on the paper towel. That is why I alway apply my finish on a day after sanding.