# Origin of the CA Finish?



## DocStram (Jan 20, 2007)

I mostly use CA as a finish on my pens.  I often wonder how the idea of using CA as a finish ever got started.  I mean, it all sounds so crazy .... here's this beautiful piece of wood on the lathe .... and then somebody comes up with the idea of drizzling CA all over the blank? Was CA being used as a finish for some other wood products? Who thought it up?  How did they come up with the idea for using CA?  I always think of Russ as the Dean of Wood Finishing ... maybe he will shed some light on the origins. [?]


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## RussFairfield (Jan 20, 2007)

I have no idea who started using CA as a finish, but I found people already using it for pens and other small, and a few not so small, items when we moved back to Western WA in 1998. That was the first I had seen it used. 

The first published use of CA glue (with BLO) was by Michael Dresdner, and he had learned about it from another woodturner in the same area.  

I would suspect that this is one of those things that have had multiple discoveries once people started looking for pen finishes that were better than shellac and wax.

You might look through the archives of the Yahoo Penturners and see when the first message about a CA finish appeared.


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## fiferb (Jan 20, 2007)

I would speculate that someone was using it to fill a hole or crack and said, "hey, might as well cover the whole blank, wonder what that would look like".


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## bgray (Jan 20, 2007)

Obviously, CA glue is used pretty widely for other turning applications besides a finish....like Russ said, it probably wasn't just one guy.  I spose that turners all over just saw their bottle of CA sitting near the lathe and said, "what the heck?"


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## Fangar (Jan 21, 2007)

Everyone knows that I invented it.  Right after I invented the internet.  []

Fangar


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## Marc Phillips (Jan 21, 2007)

> _Originally posted by fiferb_
> <br />I would speculate that someone was using it to fill a hole or crack and said, "hey, might as well cover the whole blank, wonder what that would look like".



That's exactly how I started using it... on a small bowl... Liked it []


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## RussFairfield (Jan 21, 2007)

I may be wrong, but I think the reason why CA started being used as a finish sometime around 1990 was that was about the same time that the generic brands came on the market with a big reduction in price and available in larger bottles. We mow accept $12 for a 4-ounce bottle as being. That used to be the price for a 1/2-ounce bottle.


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## wdcav1952 (Jan 21, 2007)

> _Originally posted by Fangar_
> <br />Everyone knows that I invented it.  Right after I invented the internet.  []
> 
> Fangar




OMG!, you are Al Gore?!?!?!?!?[]


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## DocStram (Jan 21, 2007)

> _Originally posted by Fangar_
> <br />Everyone knows that I invented it.  []
> 
> Fangar


That it explains it!  Just the other day I was at Highland Hardware and I asked the clerk for CA glue. She replied, "You must mean Fangar Glue, don't ya?"  [:0]


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## Blind_Squirrel (Jan 21, 2007)

> _Originally posted by Fangar_
> <br />Everyone knows that I invented it.  Right after I invented the internet.  []
> 
> Fangar



Pleased to meet you Mr. Gore! []


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## dfurlano (Jan 21, 2007)

http://web.mit.edu/INVENT/iow/coover.html


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## Fangar (Jan 22, 2007)

Gore and I have nothing in common, unless you count or love of the turning frock!

[]

Fangar


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## RussFairfield (Jan 22, 2007)

The image of Al Gore dressed in a police uniform makes me think more of Buford T. Justice than Fangar.


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## wdcav1952 (Jan 22, 2007)

> _Originally posted by RussFairfield_
> <br />The image of Al Gore dressed in a police uniform makes me think more of Buford T. Justice than Fangar.



Russ,

Just curious, what does the image of Fangar being sworn in as Vice President do to your mind?!? []


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