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What is your preferd finishing product

clumsysod

GOBBY GIT
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Apr 7, 2013
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Looking around there are so many to choose from and I am thinking of buying something to give me that lustre that some of you get.
I have had some success with ca and tried mixing it with blo but it doesn't do anything for me.
You know by now I like to do cheap and improvise where possible but I also realise you get what you pay for and want to find the ultimate gloss like my old Army boots good quality polish and plenty of hard work and patience.
Till now I have used poundland superglue emery paper to 600 grit then kitchen scouring powder and toothpaste to finish. a tip i saw in another forum, it works but I am not sure I have the technique right..
 

bellringer

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The Main finish i use is friction polish with a wax coating over it

But i have also been trying ca
 

yorkshireman

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Wood Turners Finish by General Finishes. No problems with fumes, easy to apply and a great finish.

keith
 

trapper

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I too prefer a wax based finish. I make up a mix of turpentine linseed oil (andsometimes add coloured) wax to it ........ even shoe polish melt it up in a saucepan and apply it to the blank using an art brush with the blank spinning then polish it out and do a final polish with finishing wax If Im using a resin or polymer blank I normally start off with brasso having sealed the blank with thinned acrylic waterbased lacquer. I am experimenting with some brushing epoxy but so far have not got it correct .......it seems to end up with a foggy finish:rolling:
 

Jimjam66

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George, if you stick with CA (with or without BLO) you can get the mirror finish you're looking for and it will last the life of the pen. There are a couple tricks though: first, get some finer grits than 600. You should at least go down to 1200, but maybe even 2000 if you can. If you can lay hands on 0000 steel wool that substitutes nicely for the 2000 grit. Second, be patient in building up the CA. I used to do 5 or 6 coats with medium CA, I now do 9 or 10. The deeper the coating, the better you can finish without going through it back to wood. Third, go easy with accelerator if you use it at all. It can crystallise the CA and leave white marks in the finish. And finally, try to lay hands on some buffing compound (they call it polish these days but I'm old-school). I use T-cut, Jim uses Meguiars, some use Hut (freakishly expensive). Halfords will carry a range of them for not much money.

The secret to great finish is, sadly, just elbow grease. No magic bullet, just hard work. Build up a nice coat, then work it back to a mirror finish with care.

Oh, and Poundland glue is fine as long as you don't use it for too long and it goes off. I buy mine from Toolstation which is also cheap.

Just thought of this: I bought a 70p magnifying glass at Wilko, so I can inspect the finish quality as I work. Highly recommended!
 

Jimjam66

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Oh, and one more thing: once you have built up the CA switch to wet-sanding to bring the finish back to smooth. CA builds heat quickly and the water keeps it under control better. (For the same reason you should do coating and finishing at slow speeds on the lathe, under 1,000 rpm.)

DON'T use water while building up the CA as CA doesn't like water much. Get some under a layer of CA and it'll go milky and ruin the finish. Or so I've heard ... :whistling:
 

Terry

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Oh, and one more thing: once you have built up the CA switch to wet-sanding to bring the finish back to smooth. CA builds heat quickly and the water keeps it under control better. (For the same reason you should do coating and finishing at slow speeds on the lathe, under 1,000 rpm.)

DON'T use water while building up the CA as CA doesn't like water much. Get some under a layer of CA and it'll go milky and ruin the finish. Or so I've heard ... :whistling:

Thanks for your 2 posts Jimjam they make interesting reading and something that I'll have to try as I haven't had too much success with CA.
Regards
Terry:thumbs:
 

ataylor

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Nice reply jimjam, some good advice in your post. :bwink: I use friction and wax to. :thumbs:
 

trapper

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shoe shine

here are a couple of laburnum slimlines i made up. The finish is first sand on the lathe with 1000grit and grain sealer, then wipe off with turpentine allow to dry. Then polished with brown shoe polish yep the kiwi stuff i used kitchen towels to burnish it wipe off any excess then final polish with a satin finishing wax
 

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Jim

Grand Master
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Oct 19, 2011
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I use a variety of finishes which depends on the pen i am making. A top end pen will always get a CA finish, a £10 pen will get a friction and polish finish. :bwink:

Good write up David, thanks for that my friend ... :thumbs:
 

clumsysod

GOBBY GIT
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Wow thanks for the quick answers guys, Does nobody sleep here? Something to pick the bones from here. seems its between wax and ca so far.

Thanks for your 2 posts Jimjam they make interesting reading and something that I'll have to try as I haven't had too much success with CA.

Excactly the kind of help I was hoping to get Again thanks, I would expect to have to work at getting the shine buildng and buffing over many stages same as my boots.
I am not far away with this method. Poundland superglue is very runny, so is my nose after. I had been building to about 6 or 7 coats, sounds like I need about 20.
The toothpaste i use is like a cutting compound and better than tcut cheaper an tastier when it splashes blimey it works extremely well too.
 

clumsysod

GOBBY GIT
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Apr 7, 2013
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George, you wanted your pens shiny like your boots. What better way than with Kiwi boot polish?
Oh believe me I can build a shine with with bootwax and still do, some of the Filth here have started to pay me to get there kit ready for parade :ciggrin:
I wanted to stay away from wax on pens because I have read something about natural oils in the skin and wax and wood altogether is not a good thing.
Can't remember what exactly cos I have slept since then, Maybe it explodes under airiplane pressure, or gives some rare incurable disease, Whatever.
 

Yorkie

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Mar 9, 2013
Posts
73
CA is my favourite, but it takes some practice to get right. I sometimes use a friction polish, I like Chestnut, and sometimes I just BLO and leave matte-this is great on Gaboon Ebony.
 
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