# Lacquer over CA?



## Texatdurango (Jun 14, 2008)

OK, I just gotta ask because either I'm not getting it or some folks are just getting so caught up with routines that they don't get it!

I have seen numerous posts where someone will say they "Seal" the wood with a couple coats of CA, sand smooth then apply lacquer.

Lacquer over plastic...I've got to ask WHY?  Why not just buff the CA and call it a day?  What does putting lacquer over plastic get you that the plastic alone doesn't?


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## wdcav1952 (Jun 14, 2008)

George, just speaking for me, I do it because my CA finishes SUCK!!!!!

I will use CA to fill and seal the grain, and then use Deft lacquer or Unoxal.


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## DCBluesman (Jun 14, 2008)

Sealing is meant to prepare the wood for finishing, Generally speaking, all coats of sanding sealer are sanded off until the surface of the wood is "baby's-butt" smooth, with no grain or pores that have not been filled.  You should still have a surface that is mostly wood.  If your surface is CA, you already have applied your first finish coat.


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## MobilMan (Jun 14, 2008)

Tex, you beat me to it. I clicked on 'finishing' to ask that same question.  I finished a Cocobolo today with 5 coats of CA then went back to the 3600 & back up to 12000. That bugger has a real smooth/high shine & other than using Ren. Wax wondered why/if any finish over such a hard surface would do any good. A liquid finish would want to adhere to the wood & a hard slick finish would need to be roughened up somewhat for a finish of stick to. Wouldn't you want to treat a pen the same way as a fine piece of furniture?  Altho furniture isn't handled as much..  Thanks for bringing this up.


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## makaiolani (Jun 14, 2008)

Be careful when applying CA under another finish.  A light coat of CA should be applied.  Remember wood is softer than CA.  If you were to dent the wood, the CA pops back up and you get a White spot on the pen.  You should use thin CA to "seal" the wood then sand most of it off.  Then apply the lacquer.  Then the finish will dent with the wood.  You also should use a more flexible lacquer.


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## wdcav1952 (Jun 14, 2008)

Tex and Mobilman, we have a member who probably knows more about finishing than any of the rest of us.  Take a look at this site, and thanks to Russ for  making it available.

http://www.woodturnerruss.com/FinishingSecrets.html


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## RussFairfield (Jun 14, 2008)

Well, lacquer over a plastic is a plastic over another plastic, and I have no problem with that. Lacquer can best be described as "celluloid". You can soak clear photographic film is lacquer thinner or acetone and make your own finishing lacquer. Make a thicker solution and you will have a cellulose glue. 

Lou answered the question. To put it another way - a "sealer" is IN the wood, and a "finish" is ON the wood. Sometimes they are the same material. Most of the time they are not. 

A "sealer" is a surface preparation before putting a "finish" on top of it. It is sanded back until there is nothing on top of the wood, all of the grain and pores are sealed, and the surface is smooth. 

A "sanding sealer" has a lubricant added to the sealer material to make the sanding easier. Since the lubricant is opaque chemical powder, leaving any of it on the wood surface will mask the grain and color of the wood. 

Lacquer and CA glue have different properties. CA glue is clear and harder than lacquer. That makes it a good material to fill and harden the wood surface. It also makes a good finish when abrasion and hard use are factors. I think we love it because it is fast rather than for any endearing properties it might have. When a CA finish is done, it's done. Other finishes require waiting longer. 

Even though it might be softer than a CA finish, we would still prefer the lacquer finish because it will accent a wood grain and color better than any other finish; and that is because lacquer is the only finish that will give us the three properties of clarity, brilliance, and depth. A CA finish can only give us clarity because it just doesn't exhibit the other properties.

Lacquer will accent the grain and color differences in a polished wood surface as good or better than any oil we can use on the wood. CA won't do this as well by itself, and many of us use Boiled Linseed Oil to help the CA with accenting the grain.

Clarity is what it is, a clear finish without any opacity or light absorbing material in the finish film. Brilliance is the interplay of reflections between the planes within the finish. Depth is the offset between the reflections from the bottom and top surfaces of the film, giving the illusion of depth. To get that reflection off the bottom of the film, the surface has to be smooth, the smoother the better, and that is why we use a "sealer".

Have we answered the question??


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## RussFairfield (Jun 15, 2008)

The more appropriate finishing for pen turners is - "A Special Message For Pen Turnrs" at 

http://www.woodturnerruss.com/PenPages-FinishingPens.html


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