# Need some help here



## ldwilson (Dec 15, 2010)

So, i am fairly new to the pen turning...now i am trying to work on a better finish.  I started off with HUT and then i tried the CA/BLO method which i could never get to come out to well.  Is there anything else that works well?  I love the way the BLO looks, can i just put some sort of sealer on that?  just looking for a durable shine (like the rest of us :biggrin

thanks


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## mredburn (Dec 15, 2010)

You can also use Poly either wiped on or dipped. It just takes longer between coats and a week or two after its applied to fully cure. I have poly finishes on pens that are more than 10 years old and they still hold up. I also use just straight CA medium thickness, I build up 4 -6 layers and then level it with a tool or sand it with sandpaper glued to a small flat board. Then I use thin ca to give it a final coat or two. The are some nice tutorials on poly on the site. I believe Russ Fairfield did one of them.

Here is a link to Russ's website it has several finishing tutorials.
http://www.woodturner-russ.com/FinishingSecrets.html

There is also a tutorial on Poly finishing in the Library articles under 2008 first one on the top.


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## manatee (Dec 15, 2010)

Don't give up on the BLO/CA finish!  It's the only finish I use after trying ALL the rest. Take a look at this video and see if it helps:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orcgOf4siqc


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## glwalker (Dec 15, 2010)

*Stay with it!*

I agree totally with Manatee.  I've never had a bad blo/ca finish when done as William Young shows in his video.  Also, after you're done I find very little need (if any) for buffing or Micromeshing.  The finish just comes out perfect.


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## ctubbs (Dec 15, 2010)

With some experience, CA finish is great.  It stinks from the fumes, but it is a good finish.  Make sure the blank is clean.  Then clean it again.  Do not use water or DNA to clean with.  Water on the blank is your enemy.  It will cause problems.  Water should only be used once the finish is in place for sanding.  By then the blank is sealed. I always apply 4 coats of thin to seal the wood and start a finish.  Then 4 to 10 coats of medium to build.  Finally, 3 to 5 coats of thin once more to help level out the finish.  The blank is now allowed to sit for two hours minimum to cure.  If I am having a bad day and developed a rough finish, I start sanding with P600 grit on a block to keep the finish level.  If you use your fingers, you will sand groves in your finish.  Can't be helped, they will be there.  Work up to 1500 grit cleaning after each grit them MicroMesh the whole pack to 12,000.  Get out the Plastex polish with good clean cotton cloth and polish the finish.  After that some wax will prevent finger prints from showing up.  I know, it is a pain in the rear but that is what basically work for me, most of the time.
Charles


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## soligen (Dec 15, 2010)

ctubbs said:


> Work up to 1500 grit cleaning after each grit them MicroMesh the whole pack to 12,000.


 
If you sand to 1500, I find you really only need to do the last 3 MM grits, otherwize you are moving backwards.


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## thetalbott4 (Dec 15, 2010)

+1 on not giving up on CA finish. I figured out that I was using too much BLO (just a drop is all it takes, and waiting until the next day to touch or polish the finish. If I dont wait, the finish goes dull and patchy. Use those tips in conjunction with the tutorials in the library. It will come to you.


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## Drstrangefart (Dec 15, 2010)

I have to support the CA finish. I use 3 coats of thin, followed by 3 coats of medium. I use accellerator on the coats of medium. It's made the difference between botching every finish I do, and a beautiful thick gloss. Apply all of your CA on the lowest speed your lathe offers, then let it set 30-45 seconds between coats of thin. After, apply the medium coats, let it set for about a minute, then hit it with aerosol acellerant, make sure it's dry, then add a new coat. Once happy, use wet MicroMesh to polish, go through all of the pads in whatever set you own.


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## JimB (Dec 15, 2010)

don't give up on ca/blo but keep experimenting with other finishes as well. On some pens I do ca/blo and on others I do Poly.


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## Dave Turner (Dec 15, 2010)

soligen said:


> ctubbs said:
> 
> 
> > Work up to 1500 grit cleaning after each grit them MicroMesh the whole pack to 12,000.
> ...



According to the manufacturer of MicroMesh, the coarsest (Brown) 1500 grit pad corresponds to 400 grit sandpaper.  The 1800 (Green) pad corresponds to 600 grit sandpaper. The complete conversion chart can be found here.

Also, I cannot stress enough the use of a 40X hand lens so you can actually see what's going on with your surface. This close-up examination of the surface during various finishing activities was a real eye-opener to me and allowed me to fine-tune my technique.


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## Papo (Dec 15, 2010)

Don't give up on the BLO/CA finish! It's the only finish I use after trying ALL the rest. Take a look at this video and see if it helps: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orcgOf4siqc 

WOW Manatee!!!!! Thanx for the link, I'm also new to penturning and just viewed this video, this guy has taken all the sanding steps away from finishing with CA glue.This will be my next try at finishing,by the way can purchase this "BLO" boiled linseed oil locally.


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## Papo (Dec 15, 2010)

Don't give up on the BLO/CA finish! It's the only finish I use after trying ALL the rest. Take a look at this video and see if it helps: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orcgOf4siqc 

WOW Manatee!!!!! Thanx for the link, I'm also new to penturning and just viewed this video, this guy has taken all the sanding steps away from finishing with CA glue.This will be my next try at finishing,by the way can purchase this "BLO" boiled linseed oil locally


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## manatee (Dec 15, 2010)

Hector, you can buy BLO at Aces, Lowes or most hardware stores.


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## its_virgil (Dec 15, 2010)

Lacquer is an excellent and hard finish. The drawback to lacquer, for some, at least, is the curing time. Lacquer dries quickly but cures slowly. Curing can take up to two weeks. 

Russ Fairfield has excellent information on all types of finishes on his website. Take some time to read what he has to offer: http://www.woodturnerruss.com

Oh, BTW, don't give up on the CA finish. It is not a difficult finish to master. 

Do a good turn daily!
Don



ldwilson said:


> So, i am fairly new to the pen turning...now i am trying to work on a better finish.  I started off with HUT and then i tried the CA/BLO method which i could never get to come out to well.  Is there anything else that works well?  I love the way the BLO looks, can i just put some sort of sealer on that?  just looking for a durable shine (like the rest of us :biggrin
> 
> thanks


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## robutacion (Dec 15, 2010)

Hi ldwilson,

Well mate, there are many possible ways to finish a pen, regardless if gloss, satin or matt.  I have tried a "fair" number of products including liquid gloss or liquid glass, one of the hardest products to void runs while drying...!

I'm not keen on using oil with the CA, however I read enough of people that swear by it.  Not trying to judge on others preference nor interested in "bashing a horse that has been dead for a long time...!" I have to say that recently I started to use the straight CA finish a lot more than ever and actually use it in 97% of the pen blanks I turn round, for either a sample or a pen.

No doubt CA is the fastest way to produce a durable gloss finish on a pen, oils and friction polishes are as fast if not faster but will not either produce the shine nor the durability but that is obviously, and individual choice/preference.

I used and still use a product called Floorseal made by Feast Watson that is a pleasure to work with, is a floor varnish but a very thin in viscosity (nearly like water), can be applied in any possible way you can thing of, has a beautiful shine and is tough as nails, after all is a floors varnish, huh...!!!:wink:

As much as I still like to use this product for other things, I decided to have it replaced with the CA finish for things that I want to finish fast, instead of costing the wood with sanding sealer, let dry, light sand, coat with Floorseal (normally dipped) and hang to dry for 24 hours.  While surface dryness happen within an hour or so from application, that hours can become a nightmare when mosquitoes, dust and other stuff flys around and stick to it, unless the blanks is coated and let to dry in a proper painter booth or something similar.

Is certainly not nice to have to re-do the finish to remove (UFO's) from the varnish surface, nor is the time that require before the blank(s) are actually dry enough for handling or assembly, not forgetting that 99.9% of chemical varnishes and finishes will take approx 14 days to fully cure, CA is an exception only to a point as its true curing times can reach 7 days, depending on the total thickness and enviro. temperatures it is exposed to...!

One other interesting fact is that, I went from a finish that would take approx. 2 days from application to handling/assembling to straight CA which can be achieved in 15 minutes or so BUT, the interesting part is that, I started to used lots of accelerator on my CA finishes, increasing dramatically the speed of the application(s) and finish.

My suggestion to you is, do some practice runs to get you on the right path of success.  I would suggest you to get a pen blank that isn't nothing special, put it in the lathe between centres, (no holes required) and turn it until round, this will be your starting point for the practice exercise.  Sand the wood up to 400 (180-240-320-400 or similar...!), then clean the blank with a air gun if possible, if you don't have one use a small painting brush.

After you have if clean, try wiping the blank with acetone or accelerator with the lathe either running or not, let it dry for a minute or two.  Start with thin CA, this will help you with the application as it wont dry as fast, make sure you have a paper towel material that don't react with the CA, the blue paper towel is certainly the best, many other will start socking as soon as you touch it with CA, that means that the paper towel is reacting and working as a hardener, reducing your application time considerably.

Use the bottle on the top and paper towel (applicator) under the blank and with the lathe running at slow speeds, run your CA from right to left, then when you reach the lathe headstock end remove the CA bottle away from the blank and run the applicator back to where you started from, remember that all this has to be done as fast as possible, movements coordination will be a little tricky at first and maybe you will endup with a few pieces of the paper towel (applicator) stuck to the CA but, that's the whole purpose of this exercise, you don't have to be stressed about messing up a good blank that has been drilled, turned and finished to be a nice pen in the end and maybe and order that you can't afford to mess-out either because the blank is expensive and probably the only one you have, as also you running out of time to get this order done.

This things play in your mind a lot more in the beginning of pen turning than after a while, they are more than enough to set you in the panic mode while working on the pen, that doesn't help a bit...!!!:frown:

Try 4 coats then sand all ridges with 320 or 400 grit paper, do it with the lathe turned off and rub the blank lengthways, this will remove the ridges a lot faster and removing less CA from the blank as it will leave a good surface for the second lot of 4 coats.  After the last coat, let it set for 5 minutes or so and then sand it with wet micromesh using the same technique  as you use between the 2 coating groups fro the first 2 or 3 grits, then you can turn the lathe on and complete the grits steps.

Clean and check for any dull spots (signs that you removed too much CA and exposed the wood, repeat the last 4 coats CA application if this happen...! ), apply a little cream polisher compound (many to chose from), rub it firmly on the wood with a clean piece of the applicator (paper towel) while the lathe is turning, this time at faster speed.  Use this polish compound as if you where doing burnishing or friction polish methods, this will bring a amazing shine to the finish.

Remember, this is a training/practise exercise, at any time that you stuff things up, you have still plenty of wood to play with so, give it another shave and start again.  When you active a good result, and you thing that you got it, don't be so sure, shave that finish off or if you feel that looks too good to cut/shave off, grab another blank and test yourself and your confidence, if you really got it, that next blank will come up as good or even better than the previous one, then and only then you can trust that you got the steps and process worked out.

That would be the time to seat down with a beer, relax and enjoy the achievement, you can then get that nice blank that has been waiting for a while and transform it into a pen with that nice finish you so much like...!:wink::biggrin:

This is my story, and I stick with with, even tough I apologise for the length of my post..! You already knew that, didn't you...??? no, no, I mean the length of my posts...!

Cheers
George


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## LJ Wallwey (Jan 9, 2011)

My first post to this site so bear with me.  
Where do you get a 40X magnifier?? I found a 10X at the photo store would that help at all??
Thanks  LJWallwey in NE Nebraska


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## ctubbs (Jan 9, 2011)

Hobby Lobby carries a 10 to 40 lighted microscope in their collections section.  I guess that Michaels would also carry one similar. The one I have is lighted to illuminate the area to be studied.
Charles


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## JohnU (Jan 9, 2011)

I used to use lacquer on all of my pens but the seven day curing time is a long period.  I now use CA and love it.  The only thing I can add to all the posts above is... toget around the fumes problem, I turn a fan on an set it about ten feet behind me so there isnt any strong wind to blow dust in my finish but just enough to move the air and direct the fumes away from me.


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## Dave Turner (Jan 10, 2011)

LJ Wallwey said:


> My first post to this site so bear with me.
> Where do you get a 40X magnifier?? I found a 10X at the photo store would that help at all??
> Thanks  LJWallwey in NE Nebraska



Here is the lighted magnifier that I use and like a lot. Since it's mailed from China, it takes two to three weeks to arrive. I've purchased flashlights and other items from this site and have never had any problems. Since the items are so inexpensive, and shipping is free, you can order several different ones to try out.


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