Ca Finish

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J

John M

Member
Joined
May 20, 2009
Messages
217
Location
Antioch Ca
This thing is still giving me a hard time to the point that I have stoped doing wood till I can get it. At the next meeting, I would really like someone to show me how to do it by doing a pen in front of me. I watched videos and taken all the tips, but just cant get it. No matter how carefull I am, I burn through.

Could be a presonal lesson or a class type deal, dont matter to me. It is more of a mission to do it now than a desire, lol.
 
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Hey John,

It took me a very long time to get the CA/BLO finish down pat, even after talking to Bill Young on the phone, I still had problems with the blue shop towels sticking to the finish. And always on the last, or next to last coat.
What I found through trial and much error was to keep the towel rapidly moving back and forth with hardly any pressure on it until the dullness fades and the shine comes back through. What I was thinking at the time was that once the shine begins to come back it was cured and I could put more pressure on it. (WRONG)
Wait until you the shine is back on the whole blank and you know it's cured.
I'm sure I may be corrected by one or more of the awesome artists on here, but that seemed to work for me.
I'm a newbie here, but I love this site already.

Good Luck,
Tom/oops99
 
Go to Wood Forum and watch DJ's CA wood finish tutorial. You have to join to watch the videos, but it is a good site with additional information. It is the first forum that I found about pen turning. Nice group of people, may IAP members belong also. I really got the CA finish from watching this video over and over again. You can download it to watch repeatedly.
Practice on scrap wood.
 
I have not problem getting the CA on there, I can put 10 coats with no problem, I get the nice dull and then a good shine, the finish looks pretty good as is, but soon as I sand it, I go right through. I check out that other video and see what happens.
 
What is the address of that site? I googled it but get some weird stuff, some is not even in english
 
John
I found that using Hut plastic polish instead of mm works best for me. I put on 10 coats of BLO / CA and then finish up with the polish. I also found that if the shop towel grabbed a little that if I moved it across the pen rapidly it would work through it.

Jeff
 

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John - It sounds like either you are not geting as good a coat on each time as you think you are or you are over sanding. What is your sanding method?
 
Hey John,

I don't know what video you are reffering to, but after 6 coats of ca/blo, you should finish with one coat of "One Step Plastic Polish" and you are done.
Tom/oops99
 
I do think I am not getting as good of a coat as i think i am, that is why I want to see it done. When I use the MM, I have the lathe off, and just go back and forth a few times with each grit, an I start at like 3200. I might try the polish route. I have also tried it with the lathe on very slow, but that didnt work for me either.

I have got a few good pens, but just seems to be way hit or miss on weather I can do it right.
 
John, wanna drive 45 minutes and visit Pleasanton? I can have you doing wonderful CA finishes in a couple of hours. Dave and I taught the CA finish the last time we did it.

2 coats thin as your sealer. 3-4 coats medium or thick. USE A SANDING BLOCK under your sand paper and sand down until you have a smooth finish. The block keeps you from going through the low points as you work the high points. Keep using the block until around 400 grit.

I'm unemployed right now so just about any time will work for me.

GK
 
I might take you up on that in a couple of weeks, I am going camping next week, but will get in touch with you when I get back. I just got some stuff from Johnnycnc so it should be here when I get back.
 
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