I am turning a pen and this is after I applied ca glue finish. How do I get rid of the white spots and streaks? If it’s too late, any suggestions on salvaging the metal tubes inside these blanks?
The inevitable question barrage:
What type of CA (thin, med, thick consistency)
How many coats
Did you polish the blanks using something like micro mesh pads
When I use CA glue, I will sand the wood out to about 600 grit and clean all the dust off.
I then start the CA glue coating. I generally use two types, a thin glue and a medium glue. I start with the thin and run 2-3 coats. Then I switch to medium glue for 2-3 coats. This is primarily to build up the thickness. I switch back to thin for a final 1-2 coats to fill in the medium as it can get wavy.
I then polish using micro mesh pads. Going through all the pads will get a very glossy finish. you can use a plastic polish to put a final gloss.
Finally, to recover the pen tubes you can turn down to the tube very lightly. You need to be careful as you get to the tube. You will need to be very careful barrel trimming the recovered tubes as they may end up being too short.
I will be up there tomorrow for the SIG meeting at 12:30 and plan to turn a few pens after the meeting.
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I used cheapie super glue from dollar store, and I am pretty sure it’s thin.
I did about 6 coats.
I used regular sand paper instead of mesh pads because I didn’t want to buy new supplies.
I’ll try to show up in the afternoon and I hope I bump into you tomorrow. I don’t expect you to fix all of my mistakes and the fact that you took the time to reply is something I wholly appreciate.
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Best thing you can do is completely turn off that CA finish and start over. Basically chuck it back up on the mandrel and using a carbide tool, just gently and slowly turn it back down to the wood. I think Eric’s method above is pretty good and very similar to my process. The main differences is I only use medium glue, use closer to 8 coats, and I use wet/dry automotive sandpaper rather than micromesh. Micromesh is awesome, but expensive and doesn’t last that long in comparison IMO. I’ll definitely be up there for the sig meeting after my class and can help if you need it.
Try this glue next time, the cheaper stuff doesn’t always work as well.
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In addition to the suggestions above, old CA glue doesn’t work well either. It has a limited usable life - about a year but YMMV. After that it can act gummy.
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Thank you for the suggestion. I like the link for the medium glue.
What time are you free?
Out of curiosity, why would you use CA for this instead of epoxy? They’ve got a variety of formulations with the right viscosity, optical properties etc. for finishing, it bonds structurally to wood, and they used it on yachts, furniture etc., so it’s a known quantity. Using dollar-store CA for a finish you care about seems like using a can opener as a doorstop.
Edit: Maybe try acetone
YouTube told me to, and I dare not fight against the algorithm
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Also, I set a budget and I was exceeding it. I didn’t think there different types of ca glue nor would brand really matter.
Lesson learned
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I’m sorry, I missed this message! I may be up there next weekend and will let you know.
It’s fine. I bumped into Eric and he helped me out a great deal.
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As a cheap old goat, I would put those on the lathe and sand off the finish until smooth. 220 lightly. 350, 400 more agressive. 600 to finger smooth. Try to get to wood, but not too far. Turning off the finish might go too far unless you have a fine touch. Then redo finish. You can just use the thin CA or the finishing type without changing glue types. Just takes a few more coats…check often for surface problems. Just make sure to use clean sandpaper or mesh. And wipe the blank often.
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