HazeProblems with a CA finish

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JoelAlbert

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Joined
Mar 2, 2016
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24
Location
Concord, CA
Hi,

I have been turning pens for many years now and recently been noticing a problem with hazing on the CA finish.

Using Starbond Heavy-thin and Medium, Blue Shop towels and NO accelerator.

I leave the the CA finished blanks for 24-48 hours to cure and don't notice any issues.

After Wet sanding with MicroMesh and polishing using McGuires Mirror Glaze 205 I sometimes have a haze which seems to become apparent 24-48 hours later. Haze seems to be near a pen end rather than in the middle.

Have tried a Heavy Thin coat on the ends to seal the wood but still have the issue pop up.

I suspect it is either the Wet Sanding or the McGuires polish, but am perplexed.

Any insights?

Any do dry Micro Mesh?

Thanks in Advance!

Joel
 
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Hi Joel, I don't use any of the products you do so I can't say exactly what's causing the hazing, but I wet sand my CA finishes with no issues. I'm wondering if you need more on the ends to seal them better.

Here's what I do with great results… I use delrin bushings so not to glue the blank to the bushings. I apply Gluboost ultra thin (red label) to seal the ends (2 coats) and body of the barrel. Then I apply a couple coats of medium (blue label) to level the grain and fill any voids. I finish with 4-5 coats of thin (orange label) and I use the accelerator between coats. I wet sand about 15 minutes after the glue, polish with Novus and then buff on the 3 step wheel.

Hopefully someone who uses the same products as you will chime in.
 
I used to have that problem occasionally. Since I use the non-stick bushings for applying CA (StickFast brand), I sand the ends to get the excess CA "fingernail" off of them followed by blotting the ends in thin CA to re-seal them up before wet sanding with MicroMesh. I put the turning bushings back on for wet sanding to try to help keep too much water from getting in on the ends. It sounds like you are already doing something similar, so I'm no help. Good luck on finding something that works - Dave.
 
JoelAlbert said:
Hi,

I have been turning pens for many years now and recently been noticing a problem with hazing on the CA finish.

Using Starbond Heavy-thin and Medium, Blue Shop towels and NO accelerator.

I leave the the CA finished blanks for 24-48 hours to cure and don't notice any issues.

After Wet sanding with MicroMesh and polishing using McGuires Mirror Glaze 205 I sometimes have a haze which seems to become apparent 24-48 hours later. Haze seems to be near a pen end rather than in the middle.

Have tried a Heavy Thin coat on the ends to seal the wood but still have the issue pop up.

I suspect it is either the Wet Sanding or the McGuires polish, but am perplexed.

Any insights?

Any do dry Micro Mesh?

Thanks in Advance!

Joel
Click to expand...
I ended up redoing to0 many CA finishes on my products ,
Personally I moved to a much better quality of clear glass like finish .
You might research
 
I never do dry MM because it wears the MM too fast. That stuff is made to be used with a lubricant. As suggested make sure the ends are sealed. You can also switch from using water to an oil. When I do larger projects and want to polish out a lacquered project I use lemon oil (particularly Formby's) as a lubricant. I use the cloth MM then.
 
 
UV-A
Same as a tanning booth lighting.

Buy some UV resistant sunglasses ,,


PS All UV waves are dangerous to everything living including your pets eyes .

CFL lighting emits UV A waves .
You have to control the UV- A waves so turn all the CFL off in your shop while applying the UV resin.
LED lighting emits the least amount of UV-A waves.

HPS and MH lighting emits both UV-A and UV-B waves .

UV-C lighting one stage below X ray , same as watching a welding arc.
UV-C emits a deadly O Zone killing every single celled .
Fungi , insect egg lava the skin on your arm.
And the sun never emits UV-C lighting
 
Last edited:
JoelAlbert said:
Hi,

I have been turning pens for many years now and recently been noticing a problem with hazing on the CA finish.

Using Starbond Heavy-thin and Medium, Blue Shop towels and NO accelerator.

I leave the the CA finished blanks for 24-48 hours to cure and don't notice any issues.

After Wet sanding with MicroMesh and polishing using McGuires Mirror Glaze 205 I sometimes have a haze which seems to become apparent 24-48 hours later. Haze seems to be near a pen end rather than in the middle.

Have tried a Heavy Thin coat on the ends to seal the wood but still have the issue pop up.

I suspect it is either the Wet Sanding or the McGuires polish, but am perplexed.

Any insights?

Any do dry Micro Mesh?

Thanks in Advance!

Joel
Click to expand...
I use Micro Mesh dry all the time, just wipe the pads on a piece of denim to clean the dust between sandings.
I don't think the water is your issue. You are sealing the ends and the 1-2 days drying time is more than enough to fully set the CA. I also use McGuires Mirror Glaze to buff.
My first thought is it might be oils in the wood causing the haze, but that would only show up on oily woods. I am thinking it might be heat related from the buffing. I have a seperate lathe setup as a buffer and I always mist the buffing wheels with water ahead of buffing. I keep the blanks on the mandrel and keep the mandrel moving and spinning so the heat doesn't build up. Try that and see if it helps.
lathe-buffer-rs.JPG
 
JoelAlbert said:
I have been turning pens for many years now and recently been noticing a problem with hazing on the CA finish.
Click to expand...

Hi Joel, I'm wondering if what you're seeing is delamination toward the end of the blank. I say this because it seems to be an intermittent issue for you, and I've seen it occasionally on my own pens.

The thing that makes me question is that you're sealing the ends, which pretty much resolved the issue for me. I do still occasionally see the issue if I accidentally turn the blank down too far and have to build thickness back up with CA...this often creates the "fingernails" that @egnald mentioned, and if that gets sanded too roughly, it can cause delamination between the blank and the finish, which often appears cloudy.

Just a thought.
 
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