# Need help polishing Thuya burl



## Benpen (Apr 14, 2006)

Hello all!

This is my first post- I've spent hours trying to determine the best way to polish my stablized thuya. It driving me nuts. CA, PPP, Wipe on polyurethane, Ive tried combinations of all kinds of things. Anyone out there have great thuya ideas??

Thanks,

Benpen


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## woodpens (Apr 14, 2006)

CA followed by CA followed by more CA. It has to have a good buildup so you are not sanding through the finish. Thuya is a challenge with it's dirt-like grain. Sometimes, you have to really take your time and accept that a pen isn't going to be finished today. I am working on a pen-swap pen right now made from Cambodian Burl. It feels a lot like Thuya. After two evenings working on it, the lower barrel is like glass, but the cap is fighting me. It has some inlays that are more dense than the wood, so it is a challenge to build the CA evenly. I'm planning on completing the pen tomorrow. I've never spent this much time finishing one pen, but my hope is that it will be worth it.


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## wayneis (Apr 14, 2006)

Ben you can start out by wet sanding with BLO and then I would either finish with CA or Enduro.  Wet sanding with BLO will help keep your sand paper from clogging up.

Wayne


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## Fangar (Apr 15, 2006)

I just use the same CA method I have used on everything else.






Fangar


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## Benpen (Apr 15, 2006)

thanks for the input- I'll post my first success, hopefully it won't be 6 months from now!!!

Ben


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