Perfect CA Finish For Your Pens

[@annelandfried7344]

Great video! Thank you! I learned a lot and understood why some of the mistakes I have made ended up in cracked finish.

[@TurnersTv]

Thats awesome! Thanks for watching!!

[@charlesrader8585]

I use a Zebra Z grip pen to make turned pens, Have you tried this methed?

[@stevecorry2118]

I missed something. What is a flex finish? Great video and it helps a lot to understand how to apply a good finish>

[@TurnersTv]

Flex is referring to using flex CA glue, which is formulated to for doing finish and should hold up longer/better than regular CA when doing a CA finish :-) Thanks for watching!!

[@glong2720]

Sir thank you for sharing. I was wondering if we tried placing the pen in the freezer after doing this finish to see if it does indeed crack. Another question would be just how old was the CA glue prior to using it, or would that have any issues with the cracking process???

[@TurnersTv]

yeah the age of the glue could possibly be a factor. We don't want to put this pen in the freezer, but if you try it let us know! Flex finish does do well overall on the pens we have on our store display. The one that we have that cracked is 5+ years old and was not a flex CA.

[@chelsea78344]

Hello, beginner question - I am wondering why you need to apply a CA finish on stabilised wood? I have read that stabilising is replacing the air holes in wood with resin, so why can't a stabilised wood blank then be directly be sanded and polished to produce a finished pen?

[@TurnersTv]

Oh good question! You can totally just sand and polish! It is definitely a preference, and lots of people like CA finish (as well as struggle to get a good CA finish). We have another video on one of our favorite ways to finish a pen with friction polish as well :-) Here is the link! kzbin.info/www/bejne/noS7pn16bNFsobs

[@chelsea78344]

@@TurnersTv Thank you! Hm, that is very interesting, why would a CA finish be different than the finish you would get by just sanding and polishing?

[@TurnersTv]

CA finish will likely be a lot more shiny and lots of turners prefer it since it is a layer of basically plastic over the wood, where a friction finish is more of a natural finish where you can still feel the natural wood, even though it has the finish on it and will be shiny (not as shiny as CA though) I hope I explained that well lol

[@chelsea78344]

@@TurnersTv Oh I see! That is very interesting! Thank you!

[@maureenf629]

What is the lathe speed for applying CA?

[@TurnersTv]

700-900 is the sweet spot!

[@theguitarpicker]

I'm not sure this is always going to happen, but, when I fist started using a CA finish I believed all the '10 coats at least' BS. All the pieces I used more than 3-4 med/thick coats the finish has cracked and chipped. All the pieces I used only a few coats still shine and look good. To much CA doesn't last long. It could have been other mistakes I made getting started, can't say for sure. Just that all the mega coat pieces craked, chiped, flaked and lifted. Didn't happen with the few coat pieces.

[@TurnersTv]

ohh really good point! and it totally makes sense for sure, Thanks so much for watching and for this comment, its nice to hear that other makers are having similar success :-)