Is this expected wear with DW Pens Plus?

[WrightTurns]

Fairly new to turning, but I've been trying my hand at a few pens over the past few months, and when it came to finishing I went with Doctor's Woodshop Pens Plus as it seemed like a nice straight forward product with pretty good results.

My current process is to sand up to 600 grit, and then apply 4 or 5 coats of pens plus, getting it nice and hot when applying. They look fantastic when they come off, and ones with light use continue to look great. But in just a month or two the one I keep on my desk seems to have the majority of finish worn off on the lower holding portion. (It helps to zoom out so you can see the stark contrast with the other half)

See pictures:

Is this normal wear for pens plus? Is there anything I could do to extend the life of the finish? Is my only option for a harder wearing finish to switch to something like CA glue?

Thanks!

 

[its_virgil]

You're seeing the main pitfall of friction polish. Some swear by it and others not so much.

Craft Coat is a much better finish than friction polish (my opinion). I get it from Stadium Pen Blanks. Application videos online.

 

[bugradx2]

I'll agree with Virgil on pitfalls of Pens Plus. I don't have much experience with other friction finishes though.

I have some Craft Coat and need to play with it more, because of that I'm not sure how well it wears. I typically use CA (GluBoost) and have had very good results with it so I've opted to stay with what works well for me. I like that it's easy to apply and is flexible with whatever I've turned. Your information only says you're in the US, if there is a local turning club to where you are then it might make sense to go to a couple meetings and listen to what people like to use.

Although, asking people what is the best finish is pretty much like yelling Tastes Great or Less Filling in a bar. People are going to have opinions and you'll have to find your way through that.

 

[WrightTurns]

I'll agree with Virgil on pitfalls of Pens Plus. I don't have much experience with other friction finishes though.

I have some Craft Coat and need to play with it more, because of that I'm not sure how well it wears. I typically use CA (GluBoost) and have had very good results with it so I've opted to stay with what works well for me. I like that it's easy to apply and is flexible with whatever I've turned. Your information only says you're in the US, if there is a local turning club to where you are then it might make sense to go to a couple meetings and listen to what people like to use.

Although, asking people what is the best finish is pretty much like yelling Tastes Great or Less Filling in a bar. People are going to have opinions and you'll have to find your way through that.

The nearest club is a few hours away so for the most part it's the expanse of the internet for all my information. And I'm definitely not looking for the best, just something that has a little shine to it and doesn't wear quite so hard with normal use.

That said, CA does seem to be the next step up for durability so I'll definitely look into GluBoost. I'd heard of people just using straight fastcap 2p10, so I'm curious what the GluBoost brings to the table beyond that.

Thanks!

 

[bugradx2]

The nearest club is a few hours away so for the most part it's the expanse of the internet for all my information. And I'm definitely not looking for the best, just something that has a little shine to it and doesn't wear quite so hard with normal use.

That said, CA does seem to be the next step up for durability so I'll definitely look into GluBoost. I'd heard of people just using straight fastcap 2p10, so I'm curious what the GluBoost brings to the table beyond that.

Thanks!

Yeah - there are a BUNCH of CA glues out there. I have only used GluBoost for CA finish because the guys who showed me how to do a CA finish all use GluBoost.

Anecdotally, GluBoost is supposed to be more flexible than other finishes but I've never attempted to test that. I will say that it's darn simple to use and very forgiving. I use it on pens, bottle stoppers, ornaments & cigar cases that I make. Ed Brown (Exotic Blanks), Mark Dreyer and John Underhill all use GluBoost and have done videos showing their techniques to apply it. Each one of them has a little different way they do it which demonstrates the flexibility of the product to me. If you get into turning things made from resins, John Underwood has a great video showing the advantage of a CA finish over the top of them vs straight to the buffer.

There are a lot of topics that have been written on how people use CA for finish on IAP along with what brands. You can search through to see what grabs you.

If you're going to use a CA for a finish you'll want to ponder something to further refine/polish it which is a whole different rabbit hole. To me, people pretty much fall into categories around micromesh, polishing waxes/compounds (Magic Juice or Dr Kirks) or some form of buffing wheel. I know a couple people in category 1 or 2 that then do a buffing step too. In the interest of transparency, I'm in category #2 because I got tired of chapped hands and water on my bench from wet sanding.