# Not another CA finish thread!



## Mallory (Jun 10, 2017)

I've had very little time to spend turning recently but I drummed up the courage to do  a CA finish. Read quite a bit and watched plenty of videos so wasn't as daunting as I first thought! 

Method - sanded blank to 600grit with lathe on then longitudinally with lathe off after each grit. I applied 5/6 coats of thin CA, then 3/4 coats of medium and one coat of thin to finish and hopefully even out any ridges etc. Sanded with Micro mesh pads from 1500 to 12000 with lathe on only. Then finished with the polish in the StickFast kit. 

I'm pretty happy with the finish. Takes a bit longer than slapping on some friction polish but even on my first attempt it looks much better than FP. 

Two issues I've seen in this pen both of which are only visible if the pen is inspected closely under bright light. 

1) Several small scattered pits in the finish. I haven't really read much about those in other threads. I though I had put on enough coats to even out any grain holes. Any thoughts?

2) Very fine circumferential scratches. I was conscious of sanding  through the finish so perhaps I didn't sand for long enough. With lathe at about 1500 rpm I sanded for about 5 seconds per per blank at the lower grits. A bit longer at the higher grits. Was this too short?

Thanks for any responses. Such a wealth of information on here  [emoji106]


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## Wildman (Jun 10, 2017)

Not sure what to tell you never had a problem with a CA finish only used medium and didn’t sand between coats.  Wet sanding & polishing after the last coat but at slower lathe speed. After getting micro mesh wet sanding & polishing even easier for me.


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## Ambidex (Jun 10, 2017)

Welcome Mallory...I'm just guessing but the scratches may be from residual dust prior to the next grit. A picture may show more of what you're talking about. As far as your header for the thread it shows you listen to too many negative comments here on repetitive posts. I guess some here would rather have this turn into a library instead of an interactive forum where people talk to each other. While the library is a wealth of information, it's hard to get different opinions and insight from an inanimate source. It's also incredibly easy to not open posts that you don't want to read or make comments about


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## twehr (Jun 10, 2017)

FYI - Putting on a final thin coat "to even out any ridges" does not even out the ridges. It adds a thin layer to the ridges AND the valleys. You still need to sand/MM the same amount to get rid of the ridges. 

The extra layer does not hurt anything, it just doesn't help.


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## Woodchipper (Jun 10, 2017)

Not an expert, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once, but I use thin CA for my pens.  Tried medium but didn't care for the results.


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## Dehn0045 (Jun 10, 2017)

I had poor results with micromesh until I started wet-sanding, I think I was building up heat with them dry.  I know a lot of folks use them dry, but I just couldn't get it to work for me.  Also, I started using sand-paper prior to the MM (600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000), this has helped with eliminating the scratches (I got this pack and cut them into 1" strips: https://www.amazon.com/Sandpaper-Fu...7101920&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=sandpaper&psc=1).  The amount of time spent (MM or sandpaper) is not the critical factor, just that you get all of the scratches from the previous grit removed.

As for the pits in open grain wood -- I sand with the course grits until I can't see any more glossy flecks on the blank.  I have heard that some people will use a skew rather than sandpaper for this step, but haven't tried that myself.  Depending on how deep the pits, this can be a lot of sanding.  I then sand thru 2000 and apply a few more coats of thin CA.  Then sand 800 thru 2000, MM, then polish.  I'm by no means an expert, but this has worked pretty good for me.


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## Mallory (Jun 10, 2017)

Thanks for the replies. Perhaps I'm just expecting too much on my first attempt. It may just require a bit of adjusting of my technique and hopefully in time it will come. 



twehr said:


> The extra layer does not hurt anything, it just doesn't help.




I shouldn't believe everything I read online then. Thanks for the advice - I'll probably not waste any time putting that last coat on then. 



Dehn0045 said:


> As for the pits in open grain wood -- I sand with the course grits until I can't see any more glossy flecks on the blank.




Thanks. It was a wenge blank and had fairly open grain so I will try this with the next one. 



Ambidex said:


> I'm just guessing but the scratches may be from residual dust prior to the next grit. A picture may show more of what you're talking about.




I'll be more careful about wiping the blank down between grits in future. 

Few ideas to be getting  on with! Thanks



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## magpens (Jun 10, 2017)

When finishing an applied CA finish, I only ever sand longitudinally, and with lathe off.

IMHO, 5 seconds is not long enough

I use a good light and do my first few sanding grits until there are no shiny spots and no ridges ... always sanding longitudinally with the lathe off, turning the headstock by hand.


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## MikeUT (Jun 22, 2017)

Mallory said:


> Method - sanded blank to 600grit with lathe on then longitudinally with lathe off after each grit. I applied 5/6 coats of thin CA, then 3/4 coats of medium and one coat of thin to finish and hopefully even out any ridges etc. Sanded with Micro mesh pads from 1500 to 12000 with lathe on only. Then finished with the polish in the StickFast kit.
> 
> 1) Several small scattered pits in the finish. I haven't really read much about those in other threads. I though I had put on enough coats to even out any grain holes. Any thoughts?
> 
> ...



A photo would help to see exactly what your scattered pits look like. I've had 'pits' two different ways. The first and most probable is that you aren't sanding enough on the lower grits.  My first several pens I had to start sanding at 600 grit in order to even the CA out. Doing it with 1500 would have taken forever.  wet sand it at a low speed or you'll run in to the second way I had 'pits' in my finish.  On the first few I made with CA glue I sanded at too high of an RPM with dry sandpaper. The CA dust built up on the paper immediately and pushed a pock mark in the finish that went all the way down to the wood.  I had to start over. 

If I had to bet I'd say your issue is in line with the first possibility, not the second.


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## harleyrandy (Oct 8, 2017)

I use a BLO CA method I found on you tube, my pens come out glossy and no marks noted in the finish


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## leehljp (Oct 8, 2017)

Mallory said:


> Two issues I've seen in this pen both of which are only visible if the pen is inspected closely under bright light.
> 
> 1) Several small scattered pits in the finish. I haven't really read much about those in other threads. I though I had put on enough coats to even out any grain holes. Any thoughts?



One big problem with counting the coats or thinking about putting on enough coats is that one is trying to guess how much is enough. That is kind of like the old adage of "a watched pot never boils", i.e. it takes a long time. Heavy deep grain pores must be filled. No, ifs, ands, or buts - if you want them "filled". A coat or two or three with thin CA and using paper towel will not fill it except by numerous applications. This is where medium and thick are necessary. There are different methods of applying medium and thick that do not use CA absorbing paper towel and will fill the pores. It might take a few minutes for the medium or thick CA to set up, but at least the pores will be filled. 

As to paper towel, it finally dawned on me after 2 to 3 years that the paper towel was fighting the blank for CA and the paper towel was winning - meaning that 3 to 5 times as much CA was being absorbed by the paper towel than was getting onto the blank and into the pores. I didn't have time for that. I use an applicator to spread the CA so that 80 to 90% goes onto the blank and the pores are filled.


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## Beautys_Beast (Oct 17, 2017)

After sanding, I do one quick coat of thinned lacquer friction polish. I then apply a very thin coat of BO, and start applying CA glue. I usually add one tube per pen. Depending on pen size, that turns out to be 4 to 8 coats. I change the spot I am applying it from on my folded paper towel each coat. The BO seems to work like a catalyst, drying the CA glue faster. Or maybe it just seems like it.

Just recently started turning Acrylic. Gotta say, I love the fact that you don't have to mess with a finish, Changing the lathe speed, etc. Soo much faster.


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## Mallory (Oct 17, 2017)

leehljp said:


> As to paper towel, it finally dawned on me after 2 to 3 years that the paper towel was fighting the blank for CA and the paper towel was winning - meaning that 3 to 5 times as much CA was being absorbed by the paper towel than was getting onto the blank and into the pores. I didn't have time for that. I use an applicator to spread the CA so that 80 to 90% goes onto the blank and the pores are filled.




Interesting point regarding paper towel absorbing a large amount of glue. Makes sense and it would seem then that a lot of time and glue is wasted. 

What do you use as an applicator instead? 



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## MRDucks2 (Oct 17, 2017)

After the light going on with the paper towel fighting the pen for glue comment I went with what I had, Blue nitrile gloves (parts bags never worked for me either). I must say I use fewer coats, goes on more smoothly and requires less sanding. 

Thanks, Hank!


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