The gloss and smoothness of the assembled pen will be no better than the wood surface that we have at the completion of the sanding. All surface finishes that we can put on a pen will wear away with time and exposure to body oils on our fingers. When that happens, all that is left will be the surface of the wood. Therefore, it had better be polished.
Additional information on sanding and finishing are available from the following sources:
This is what we had when we were through with our turning tool - two rough turned pens barrels. They may be very rough. There may be some torn grain. They are most likely not very straight and level.
None of these will be a problem IF we left enough wood for sanding.
Now we will rough sand the wood to flat and remove any torn grain. I am using a flat piece of wood that is about the same width as the length of one of the pen barrels and a piece of coarse grit sanding paper. I use a piece of 150 or 220 grit paper, depending on how much wood has to be removed.
Run the lathe slowly, 500 RPM is a good speed, and keep the board and paper moving.
Follow with 320 grit sandpaper.
We should now have two pen barrels that are straight and slightly larger then the bushings on the mandrel. How much larger is something that will have to be learned from experience.
From here on, all sanding is done with 1" strips of paper that are cut from a larger sheet. Run the lathe at about 500 RPM, and keep the paper moving by pulling on the ends and moving it along the length of the barrel. I start with 220-grit paper
STOP the lathe. Sand along the length of the pen barrels until ALL of the circular scratches from the previous sanding are removed.
A bright incandescent light bulb at a low level to the working area will make these sanding scratches easier to see. Fluorescent lighting has no shadows and the scratches become invisible.
Do these same two (2) steps with 320-grit.
Apply a thin coating of "Medium" CA-Glue to the pen. You can use the "Thin" CA, but it can wick into the joints between the wood and the bushings on the mandrels.
If you use a cotton cloth or paper towel, you will have to work faster because the cellulose acts as an accelerator for the CA glue. Any synthetic material is better. I make these little applicators from synthetic dressmakers batting and 2 pieces of masking tape.
Use 4 or 5 drops of the "Medium" CA glue on the end of the applicator, and apply it on the wood with the lathe running at a speed that will not sling the glue. About 500 RPM is good. Here is where a variable speed comes in handy.
Wet the entire surface of the wood on both barrels. Add more glue if necessary.
Hold a piece of soft paper towel against the spinning wood while the CA is still wet. The cellulose in the towel will act as an accelerator and the glue should cure to a smooth surface.
Do not use an accelerator. The CA will cure harder without it.
Now go back to sanding again.
Start with 320 grit used dry, and sand until the surface is smooth. If the CA glue has cured it will sand away as a white powder. If it doesn't, give it a spritz of accelerator to cure it.
Apply a 2nd coat only if you sanded through the first one
Again, stop the lathe after using each grit and hand sand along the length of the pen barrels to remove all of the circular rings.
Then sand with 400 grit.
Now wet sand the pen with 600 grit. I use the Watco Liquid Finishing Wax as a lubricant, but any paste wax will do as well. Use a lathe speed of about 500 RPM or whatever will not sling the wax from the surface.
Stop the lathe and hand sand along the length of the wood on the mandrel.
This wet sanding will remove any remaining sanding scratches.
Wipe all of the gunk from the pen. Then continue sand with 1000 or 1200 grit used "dry".
Stop the lathe and hand sand along the wood grain, and wipe the wood clean. Then sand with 4000 Micro-Mesh until a gloss starts to show. There is a difference between the scratch patterns of the sandpaper and the Micro-Mesh, so this will take about 30-seconds.
Use these yellow buttons to go to other Sections of "Making A Pen"
It is true that the more we sand, the more we have to sand. Smaller cracks and voids that were hidden in the sanding scratches will start to appear with the finer grits. Inspect the wood surface again for voids, cracks, torn grain, and other defects that could ruin the appearance of the completed pen. Go back to the previous page "Repairing Cracks and Voids" if required.
Torn grain will require going back to the beginning of our sanding and starting over again. If there isn't enough wood to remove the torn grain, we can either fill it, or ignore it and leave more wood on the barrels the next time we turn a pair a pen.
- The "Slim-Line" Pen
- Advanced Pencrafting
- The "Slim-Line" Pen
- Advanced Pencrafting
Do not remove sanding dust
The sanding is done. The pen should have a nice shiny gloss.
