# question on reverse painting



## rogerly

Ok, so I turned my first acrylic that was extremely transparent, and I now understand why I should have reverse painted it.  I can see the air bubbles as well as the roughness of my drilling.  

My question is, if I reverse paint a blank will it hide some of the imperfections from my drilling as well as any glue "bubbles"?

The other half of the blank has a small chip out from the drilling, but I'd still like to salvage it if possible.  I figure if reverse painting it won't hide it, i'll have to save it for something that has a larger tube so I can clean up the drill marks.

Thanks,

Roger


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## Haynie

Yes.

The chip out might be an issue though.  I use flat paint instead of glossy.  In my world it covers the drill marks better.  In reality it may not be any better than glossy, but I like it in my little world the sky is pretty.


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## GoatRider

I wouldn't think flat or glossy would make a difference, since that's on the "air" side of the paint. Glue might stick slightly better to flat though, since it's slightly rough.

I don't think it will "hide" imperfections in the drilling, but I'm sure it will make it a lot less obvious. It will hide imperfections in the glue though, which is the big advantage it has over painting just the tube.


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## SteveG

A necessary step on blanks that are very transparent is to have a smooth hole wall. This is achieved by careful drilling using a sharp bit, and then sanding the inside of the hole. You can wrap a dowel with sandpaper and attack it by hand or chuck the dowel in a drill or lathe. The idea is to remove all the machining marks left from the drilling process. (You often have to do some enlarging the hole anyhow to allow for the thickness of the paint.) Then paint the hole, and proceed with making your pen. It will look great!


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## juteck

SteveG said:


> A necessary step on blanks that are very transparent is to have a smooth hole wall. This is achieved by careful drilling using a sharp bit, and then sanding the inside of the hole. You can wrap a dowel with sandpaper and attack it by hand or chuck the dowel in a drill or lathe. The idea is to remove all the machining marks left from the drilling process. (You often have to do some enlarging the hole anyhow to allow for the thickness of the paint.) Then paint the hole, and proceed with making your pen. It will look great!



If you still have troubles getting a clean hole, I've had good luck painting the inside of the hole with a darker  color instead of a light  color to better mask the drilling imperfections.


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## Padre

You can try to fill the hole very carefully with CA.  Then use a dowel with sandpaper to smooth it out.  Then reverse paint it with a similar color to the blank.  You can use gorilla glue to glue the tube in, that glue swells and will fill in any of the void you might have missed with the CA.


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## HoratioHornblower

I actually have been coloring epoxy and painting the tubes while not painting the inside of the blank. It has actually worked better for me than any other methods I have tried, though it does give the thinner section of the blank a slight sparkle. I like that actually so I haven't tried to change it. If you do use epoxy, make sure to use a good amount, and coat the inside of the blank, and then put some on the tube, and as you insert the tube make sure to twist it. I have been doing that the last few pens and it has worked! My 2 cents.
 
David


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## Ruby pen turning

I think painting the inside of the blank is more important then painting the tube. I have used Krylon Fusion plastic paint with good results. You need to let it dry for a day and make sure no paint will be scraped off while inserting the brass tubes. I use CA to glue the tubes in.


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## Bigj51

HoratioHornblower said:


> I actually have been coloring epoxy and painting the tubes while not painting the inside of the blank. It has actually worked better for me than any other methods I have tried, though it does give the thinner section of the blank a slight sparkle. I like that actually so I haven't tried to change it. If you do use epoxy, make sure to use a good amount, and coat the inside of the blank, and then put some on the tube, and as you insert the tube make sure to twist it. I have been doing that the last few pens and it has worked! My 2 cents.
> 
> David




I second this procedure! This is how I do mine.


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## IPD_Mr

Use epoxy and tint it with your paint.  The epoxy should fill any holes if you use enough.


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## Dustygoose

I use Fusion paint and either CA or 5min epoxy tinted


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## Glenn McCullough

It's innate in most of us to salvage the blank...unless it's a $10.00 plus blank, toss it, use the suggestions here and start over. Much easier that way.


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## rej19

Not that I am an expert or anything but in watching "Chaspers" demo yesterday at the Indianapolis Chapters meeting there seems to an advantage to painting the inside of the blank instead of the tube. Especially if the blank is real transparent. If you paint the tube there is still the possibility of seeing glue "bubbles" between the tube and the blank. Just a thought.


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## johncrane

Drilling marks will show thru,so before painting the blank, you must remove any drilling marks.


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## SDB777

Fusion rattlecan spray the inside of the blank, then meduim CA(more working time with the tube), but you gotta be patient and left the Fusion stuff dry or it'll do things that are really bad!




Scott


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## Tage

Another important factor I've found is to get good even coverage of glue on the tube and inside the blank.  Missed spots and air bubbles in the glue will show.  I've taken to using 5 minute epoxy and, in some cases, coloring the epoxy with paint as well.

The other thing is to paint both the tube and the inside of the blank.


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