White spots

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KenB259

KenB259

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Joined
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Location
Michigan
Any ideas on what would cause these white spots showing up after applying a CA finish?
85551d5e49ac6ecc74fa4530bcbcd435.jpg



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Unless you can find a specific pattern of the in the wood, for me they occur from CA dust catch in pits or from polish gathering in pits. I sometimes have problems with my accelerator application causing what the call foaming, which makes the really bad, but occasionally only have a few. If bad enough, I turn them off with a scraper, and reapply the CA. If not too bad I may apply the next step of polish, a wax or a friction polish over the top and it often hides or removes the white spots.


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Dust from not cleaning off blank before applying first coat of CA. Need to blow off blanks, wipe down with denature alcohol. Also when applying CA make sure you keep blank clean between coats, like maybe having a PT sticking.
 
I am reasonably certain that the spots are due to small pits in the CA. This is a common issue with open grained woods, but can happen with anything. My approach is to build up CA, sand, clean, repeat. Inspect closely, when the pits are gone then proceed with MM or buffing. Here is one thread that discusses: http://www.penturners.org/forum/f28/cocobolo-pen-finish-problems-150326/#post1941000

Search Wenge, pits, or spots and you'll find more discussion
 
No problem, I hope you are able to resolve the issue without too much trouble. BTW, is the pen in the pic made from padauk? That was the first wood that I encountered this problem with...
 
Clean off the dust with a can of compressed air used for computer keyboards, etc. I now have an air compressor but need to find a permanent place for it.
 
I recently found an easy way to take care of this without having to sand below the pits and redo everything. When I get small white spots like that, I take a q-tip with acetone and dab the white spot. That will generally turn the spot clear again (some bigger spots take a small bit of rubbing too) and allow you to continue adding coats until they're filled, then finish like normal. This trick has saved me a LOT of time while learning CA finishes.
 
THis is probably what the others are describing, but...

It is possible you have a chemical contaminant reacting with the CA. I have seen this in refinishing with different products before(not CA). In one case I believe the person cleaned with acetone after sanding and before applying a gel stain and had something similar happen. Probably did not allow it to flash off entirely before applying stain. I think it is unlikely in this case, but a possibility.
 
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