FS-5

Finishing With CA Glue

(how I do it)

There are at least 300,000 ways to put on a CA finish, and I swear that I have read a description of every one of them on the various Internet forums over the years. Now I am adding mine.

There are video clips available, for viewing on this page, that show how to do it. YouTube doesn't give the best resolution or picture quality, but that is made up for by the almost instantaneous access. Other formats with a better picture would require a several minute wait while the picture downloaded.

NOTE: Boiled Linseed Oil will be referred to as BLO throughout this

discussion

I use CA-Glue in two (2) different ways, CA-glue straight from the bottle without any oils, or CA-glue with an oil ON TOP of it. I do not put any oil on the bare wood under the CA-glue (or any other finish). I know that others will argue that putting BLO under the CA-glue is the only way to do it, and I have seen some excellent finishes done that way. However, this page is a description of how I do it, not how they do it.

There is an argument that the BLO or other oil is required to accent the grain, and I will discuss grain "popping" at the end of this article.

My reasoning for not putting BLO on the bare wood is all about penetration of the glue into the wood. It goes back to the beginning of my making pens and I have never seen any need to change the way I do things. I had already been using a thin CA-glue to harden soft wood and fill the grain of all species. I reasoned that if I were to put BLO, or anything else, on the bare wood, I wouldn't get any penetration of the thin CA glue because the wood is already filled with the oil. I would rather have the wood filled with CA than BLO because the CA is harder.

When I realized that the CA glue could be used as a finish, I was putting it on top of wood that had already been filled and sealed with a CA glue. There would be no benefit to putting a layer of oil between the filler and the finishing layers of CA-glue and compromising the bond between them. The only finish that bonds well to an uncured oil is another oil. Shellacs, lacquers, and waterborne finishes don't do well when applied over an oil the is not totally cured. I have seen or heard nothing since that would prove that CA was any different..

CA-glue as a finish

CA-glue isn't any different from any other finish. We sand the wood smooth, put the finish on the wood, let it dry or cure, sand again, repeat as many times as necessary, and then polish the final coat to finish the finish to whatever degree of gloss we want. The only difference is that CA-glue cures (dries) faster than other finishes, and it is a harder finish than almost everything else we can put on the wood. Other than that, it is just another finish and there is nothing magic about it.

Surface Preparation (sanding, filling, and sealing the wood)

I do the same thing for all finishes, whether it is CA-glue, a lacquer, friction polish, Enduro, bare-wood, wax, or whatever. I suggest that doing this same wood and surface preparation under a shellac-based friction polish will make it a better finish than its reputation for being too soft to be useful.

I make the final cuts with a sharp skew chisel because the smoother surface requires less sanding. Sanding can make the pen barrels out-of-round because of the different grain orientation to the sanded surface.

BLO and Accenting (popping) The Grain

The reason most often given for using the BLO under the CA-glue finish is that it accents, or pops, the wood grain. The truth is that it depends on how willing we are to use sandpaper.

There are 2 ways to enhance the grain. One is by changing the color of the wood, and the other is by changing the light reflection of the wood. The color change is done with the oil and the reflection is done with sandpaper.

Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO) , or any other oil finish, enhances the grain because it changes the color of the wood by making it darker. . The grain is accented because more of the finish is absorbed into the end-grain than on the flat-grain, and that makes the end-grain darker, while everything in between has a proportionately variable difference in color that depends on the angle of the grain to the surface. All oil finishes will do this. The only reason to use BLO is that it will make the wood darker than other oil finishes. A dye will do the same thing

To enhance this penetration of the oil, the wood is sanded to NO FINER than 280-grit because there is more penetration into the less sanded grain. Sanding with finer grits restricts the penetration into the wood and there will be less color change from the BLO, and less accenting of the grain.

We can also enhance the grain by changing the light reflection from the surface, and we do this by sanding with finer sandpaper. Sanding with 320-grit and finer polishes the wood, with the flat grain being more highly polished than the end grain. The differences in light reflection enhances the grain. If we were to polish most woods to 12,000 Micro-Mesh, we would get a grain enhancement that was just as good or better than anything we could do with BLO at the coarser sanding, and there would be none of the blotching that is a problem when using oils and dyes to enhance the grain.

So, the answer is:

We can do as good or better of accventing the grain with the CA-glue (or lacquer. or shellac), without the color change IF we are willing to sand the bare wood to AT LEAST 600-grit before applying the finish, and it will definitely be better than BLO at any grit if you sanded to 12,000MM first.

The collary to this is that, if we are using BLO to enhance the grain, anything finer that 280-grit before application of the BLO on most wood is working to reduce the effectiveness of the color change from the oil to enhance the grain.

There is a common argument by those who don't want to sand, that fine sanding does nothing to enhance the finish, and that sanding causes adhesion problems with the finishes because finishes don't stick to polished wood. My experience is that these arguments are wrong on both counts.

Hint

The color change and brightening from dampening the wood with water will be about the same as from a CA or lacquer finish. This will give a good preview of the finish. Just make sure the wood is dry again, and the raised grain has been sanded back. before applying the finish.

Mineral Spirits is also good for this, and it doesn't take as long to evaporate. It will still have to be sanded afterwards to remove any raised grain.

I would never recommend using alcohol or CA accelerator because they can introduce some problems into the mix, and I would rather avoid problems.

I sand all wood with 150 or 180 grit, and then apply a liberal coat of thin CA glue. This hardens soft wood and fills the grain on all wood. I use 2-coats if necessary on really soft wood. I always sand back to the bare wood after this filler coat of Thin CA glue. Most of the wood I use is soft because I am allergic to to many of the hard exotic species.

On really soft wood that soaks up a lot of glue, I drip the CA glue onto the wood and smooth it out with a paper towel, or an applicator made from synthetic dressmakers batting. I fold paper towel in half 4 times so there are 8 thicknesses of paper between my fingers and the wood.

I run the lathe at no more than 800 RPM to keep the glue from being thrown into my face. Then I sand back to the bare wood with the 150 or 180 grit to smooth the surface. Then I sand with 220, 320, 400, and 600 sandpaper, and follow that with 4000, 6000, 8000, and 12,000 grits of Micro-Mesh.

I always sand first with the lathe running, and then by hand lengthwise with the lathe stopped. This breaks up the circular sanding scratches on the surface and makes a finer scratch pattern that is easier to refine with the next grit. This is nothing new, Furniture finishers have always sanded across the grain, at 45 degrees to the grain in both directions, and then with the grain, because the results are better that way and there are no sanding scratches remaining on the wood. Percrafters are the only people who have ever thought they could finish wood by sanding in only ONE direction, and that was across the grain which leaves the most and deepest scratches in the wood. .

On porous wood, burl wood that has a lot of little holes and voids, or wood with a coarse open grain - I sand with 150-grit to clean up the surface, and then wet-sand with 150-grit and medium CA-glue. I put about 5 drops of the CA-glue on the sandpaper, and start sanding with the lathe running. I drizzle more glue onto the wood if the sandpaper starts to run dry because the glue is penetrating into the wood. The 150-grit creates a slurry of wood dust and glue that fills in the voids. I keep sanding until the glue hardens. The sandpaper will not stick to the wood as long as the wood is moving.

Then I go to a clean spot on the sandpaper and smooth out the rough surface. Repeat if necessary. Then I sand up to 600 grit with sandpaper, and continue up to 12,000 Micro-Mesh.

No accelerator is used anywhere in this process.

I use 150 grit for the wet sanding because it will cut through the medium CA glue and make a slurry of sanding dust while the 220 grit will skate over the top of the glue.

Now I make a final inspection and hand-sand if necessary to make sure there are NO voids or dimples in the surface. There is NO magnification. If I can't see it with a bright incandescent light, it doesn't exist. I go back to 320grit if that is what is necessary to get a smooth surface faster. Then sand back to 400 and 600.

Scratches in the wood surface are easier to see with an incandescent light because there are shadows, and most difficult to see with a flourescent light because there are no shadows.

This preparation is the same regardless of what finish I am putting on the wood. I show this on the pen tutorials as application of a sealer under a friction polish.

Now the wood is ready for the finish. In this case we are using CA glue, but it could be any finish including wax, shellac (friction polish), lacquer, or Enduro. You will find that a properly done shellac finish (friction polish) will last longer over the polished CA glue, than it would on a bare wood.

The only difference between thin and medium CA-glue is that the thin cures faster, but I can put on a thicker coat of medium. The thin cures to a smoother surface and requires less sanding, but it takes more coats to get the same thickness. In the end it takes about the same time. I choose to use the medium CA-glue because it doesn't soak through the paper towel and the thin does. Thin CA glue is used in the YouTube video.

The surface can be kinda rough when the glue has dried, so I have to sand in between coats to get back to a smooth surface. That is usually 320, followed by 400 and 600 grits, and an inspection of the surface to make sure there ARE NO dimples or shiny spots in the surface. If there are any blemishes, they will be magnified by the next coat, and that will require even more sanding to remove them.

I apply the 2nd coat of medium CA glue, and then do the same sanding and inspection to get back to a smooth 600-grit surface.

If I want a soft gloss, I polish it with 0000-steel wool, give it a coat of wax and it's done. Some people like them that way.

If I want a higher gloss, I polish it with the 0000-steel wool and then go to 4000, 6000, 8000, and 12,000 Micro Mesh used dry. Then I use a light coat of Renaissance Wax and that's it. Sometimes I use the HUT polish after the 12,000 if it looks like it could use a bit more gloss, or I can see little surface scratches or other irregularities under a bright incandescent light.

The entire process takes no more than 10-minutes.

The sanding between coats isn't eliminated, but all that is required is a quick lick with 600 to smooth it up and pick up any residual BLO before putting on the 2nd coat. The final coat will usually be a soft gloss that is ready to go as it is. If I want a higher gloss, I leave it overnight for the BLO to cure, and then sand from 600 through the 12,000 Micro Mesh to get to the same gloss as the straight CA glue. If I have several pens to finish, I use the Bealle buffing wheels, both Tripoli and White Diamond, to get to the final high-gloss polished surface. In that case the buffing is faster than putting the pen barrels back on the mandrel.

I expect the finish to be a matte when using the BLO because there are oil molecules in the surface and an oil makes any finish have a duller gloss than if it weren't there. I could use any other oil for the same thing. Mineral Oil works, but the non-curing oil will always be an imbedded liquid in the surface and the finish can never be polished to as high a gloss as with a cured oil or no oil at all.

There is an argument for leaving a matte or soft-gloss surface because a high-gloss will have a short life and will soon wear back to the matte surface. My counter to that is the high-gloss sells better. Yes, there are a few people who prefer the softer gloss on a new pen, but they are so few and far between that I will not compromise the other sales for them. I make most pens with a high-gloss, but always have a few with the softer and matte finishes.

The Finishing Touches

The CA finish requires some care when removing the barrels from the mandrels. The video shows a wax being applied to protect the new finish, and removing the finish at the bushings to prevent damage to the ends of the finished pen barrels.

The CA-Glue Finish with Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO)

Many pencrafters prefer to apply the CA finish with Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO). Some clain that it is better to put the oil under the CA glue, while others claim it is better to put it on top. I put the BLO on top of the CA for the reasons previously discussed. (Click to see my reasons).

The CA/BLO finish was the first way I saw CA glued as a pen finish when I moved to Western Washington State in 2000. After using the finish with the BLO for a couple years, I learned that a straight CA finish is just as easy to apply, and the result is a higher gloss.

The only reason I would use the BLO at all is that it gives me a smoother surface and with no more than 3 coats CA glue,. That smoother surface means there is less sanding to get a smooth level surface on the glue, and less chance of sanding through the glue. However, it still has to be further polished to attain the same gloss.