Removing excess CA from bushings

[Zahnarzt]

When removing finished blanks from the bushings, I often get raised CA on the edge of the wood. I find sanding can either scratch the part of the finish I want to keep and attempting to shave off with an xacto knife can pull the CA away from the wood. What's the best way to solve/avoid this problem? Can I use a skew or parting tool to separate them while still mounted on the lathe? Pen mill?
Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

 

[Joe Burns]

You can put wax on the bushings to minimize the CA sticking to them. Also some use bushings made from a plastic material. I think it is Delrin (not sure of spelling).

I apply my CA finish with the blank between centers instead of using bushings. I wax the centers first. This way I eliminate the problem.

Joe

 

[azamiryou]

Finish without bushings.

Or, sand them off with a sanding mill or a bit of adhesive sandpaper on the back of a pen mill. That way you are only sanding the end of the blank, and not the polished surface.

(Actually, this is a good way to make sure the ends are flat and square before assembly, regardless of whether you used bushings during finishing.)

 

[Zahnarzt]

Great ideas. It seems simple enough to make a small, perpendicular sanding jig like a pen mill with some 400 grit instead of cutters. If possible, I'd like to avoid changing setups (i.e. removing/adding bushings) between steps if I'm trying to batch out pens just for the sake of speed but the wax or altertnate bushings make a lot of sense. Do you have anything between the pen segments when finishing or do you do them individually?

 

[Joe Burns]

Matthew, I forgot about the mill. I also use a sanding mill to finish the ends after removing the bushings.

oe

 

[Mike D]

On some kits I will use the bushings for the CA finish, I just wax them so the pen barrel doesn't stick to the bushing. Afterwards I trim off the glue with a single edge razor blade while the bushing is spinning on the lathe at slow speed and the CA pops off. You can also soak them in acetone if you forget to wax them completely.