CA Finish for Pens - Part 2; An Observation

In one of my previous posts I commented on my success and failures of using a CA finish on some of my pens. I've been tinkering with it a bit more with some more success, but I've made a few observations about the success, or lack of success in some cases, I am having.

First, I've noticed that if you use more than, say, two coats of CA, the pen will have a plastic feel. This makes total sense because the CA is an acrylic of sorts so the more you add, the more "plastic" you get. The advantage to this is you get a rock hard finish that will last nearly forever.

Second, the wood makes a difference. I've tried using a few different types of woods; cherry, tiger maple, paduk and rosewood. For some reason, it seems to me that the harder woods such as cherry, paduk and rosewood seem to do better than a softer wood such as maple. I have had success with maple, but it just seems more finicky than the other woods.

Third, one thick coat goes a long way. How I have had good success is to use a good coat of BLO. I apply this by wet sanding with 1000 grit paper and wiping the access with a rag. Then, with the lathe off, I apply the CA to the pen while rotating the mandrel by hand and quickly rubbing back and forth. I go around, quickly, three or four times, then stop. Next, I let that sit for a while to harden and cure, then I come back and wet sand with BLO, but this time with 2000 grit paper. I then increase the speed and apply BLO to a rag and wipe the whole thing down and apply slight pressure to heat the BLO into the pen, if you will.

This method has given me the most success so far. The other thing I really like about it is you do get a good protective CA finish on the pen, but it does not feel like plastic and retains the warmth of the wood underneath. But, this is all one person's observations, I would love to hear your take and your method for finishing.

Be safe!

CA Pen Finish - mixed results

So I've been in a pen turning mode for a while; I'm having some fun with it, creating different designs on some slim line pens. I've been using a few different finishing techniques as well. One is Shellac/Wax called Shellawax Cream. It is super easy to use, just put some on a paper towel and apply while the lathe is spinning. It creates a nice finish, not super glossy and has a good feel. Next I tried a friction polish, which is a lacquer based finish, in a semi-gloss. This is really easy to use as well; just apply to a paper towel and apply to the piece as it's spinning. I like this finish as well, but I think I would like something with a bit more shine so I might try the high-gloss. Lastly, it brings me to the CA finish. I've tried this a couple different way. First, I tried it by simply applying it to the piece and wiping it on quickly, letting it set, apply another coat, etc up to 3-5 coats. Then I let it dry for a while and then wet sand it up to 2000 grit. This actually came out really nice, but was a bit fussy at first. Next, I read about using BLO with CA so I tried that. That is really easy to do, but I don't seem get the nice high-gloss finish that I do with just the CA build up. I'm applying BLO to the paper towel, and then CA over that. For some reason, it doesn't seem to build up as well. I would love some feedback on how others use the CA process; I've watched a couple videos online about it, and read through some articles, but I'm just not "getting it" so far, but I'm going to keep trying.

The pen below was finished with the BLO and CA combination the I outlined above, it is made from Tiger Maple. It came out well, but I would like a bit more gloss finish on it. I'm thinking I should have put a couple more coats on and then wet sand it. I will try that next.

From Pen Making