CA finish on bowls?

[Ben Brown27]

Anybody put CA finish on bowls? I love ca finish on pens. It's quick and durable, but I've never really heard anybody talk about putting the finish on larger pieces. Has anybody tried it? I did some experimenting this weekend, and it looks like a pretty viable idea. Anybody know of any tutorials or discussions about CA on large pieces?

Ben

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Ben,

I've not seen it done. It would be much more expensive than other finishes IMHO.

I can buy enough finish to finish 10's of bowls for the price of a couple large bottles of CA.

[Ben Brown27]

I could see the possible costs issues, but I was surprised by how little it took to finish the test bowl I did. I tested it on a small bowl, probably 3 x 5 and it took very little. The biggest benefit I saw was that the whole bowl went from raw sanded wood to dried high gloss finish in about 15 minutes.

Applying finish coats is my biggest complaint with my turning experiences. It seems like it takes me several days and many, many coats to get the depth and gloss I like. Alot of that has to do with my experience level I'm sure.

[ROY DICK]

Ben,
Would it be possible to post before and after pictures. I would be interested in the process you use.
It does sound expensive, but you just never know.
Sounds like you could do a tutorial tho.
Thanks.


Roy

[Steve Schlumpf]

I've got nothing to back this up as the only time I have used CA was to fill in a crack - but I have to wonder if the CA wouldn't crack do to the movement of the wood. Every time I have seen CA used as a finish - it's been on small objects where the movement of the wood would be minimal. A larger surface - like a bowl of HF - would have more movement, which I would think would lead to cracking.

As mentioned - I have no experience with CA as a finish - just wanted to voice my concern.

[Aaron Howard]

it is expensive, it will crack if there is wood movement, it is very difficult to repair ( and make it look good ) and it does get yellow with age.

I have used it on pens and other small items, tried it on small bowls.

HVLP laquer sprayer could be a better solution to getting a thick hi gloss finish

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Steve I used it a couple of times on smaller bowls, I did part of one just the other day, bottom part of a 12" bowl, Reason ????
You know the problem with using CA on even hairline splits, they show afterward, so my idea was to make it all equal by spreading the CA over the whole surface, nothing exiting, I just let the thin CA run and quickly spread it with my fingers, ya I know :eek:
I would love to show that last bowl I used it on, but it is traveling as I type this to the Boston area where the parents of a good friend and husband live, (they visited here for a couple of days) and will go back to Luxemburg in a couple of weeks after the recipients have been to the wedding of a brother in LA, lots of traveling :).
The Sugar Maple bowl had some bark inclusion and a hairline split in the branch knot associated with that bark, as the bowl had an abrupt change in the contour from bowl to foot where that split was, it was very easily to use the CA on just that foot's curve, I could tell that the CA finish was shinier than the rest of the bowls exterior,but it wasn't as noticeable as the glue line beforehand.
It gets pretty hard to get a smooth surface on larger areas, but you can sand it smooth carefully, gives a very nice shine if you are after that, especially with some polishing.

Sorry I remembered I have a weedpot still sitting here that I turned 5 years ago and I did use the CA as a finish on it, same reason as discussed before, the weedpot is turned from Lonicera Tatarica (a Honeysuckle bush) and it will split :o, the wood that is, the CA never did crack up or change color in 5 years, maybe cheap CA would ??

Maybe I should add that these pictures are made just now, and shows the result of the CA finish that was done 5 years ago, HTH

[Bernie Weishapl]

Ben I tried it on a bowl and it moved slightly. It cracked the CA. It is a bear to try and fix. It now sits on the shelf and has a yellow tinge to it. You might get away with it on small bowls but when getting into the 10" or larger it would get quite expensive like Ken said. I would use gloss lacquer, gloss poly or gloss waterlox. All three give nice gloss finish.

[Ben Brown27]

I hadn't really considered the cracking issue. The yellowing comment surprises me as I haven't noticed it on any pens. I guess it will be back to many coats over many days. it's a shame cause the ca is really fast.

[Steve Busey]

The yellowing comment surprises me as I haven't noticed it on any pens.

Ben, next time you're in Woodcraft, look at my holly & acrylic pen in the IAP display cabinet - it started out snow white, but is quite yellow these days... :(

These are two different pens, but illustrates the yellowing:

Before:
http://grrrr8.com/Pens/pics/S008.jpg
After:
http://grrrr8.com/Pens/pics/Grrrr8Pens%20Card.jpg

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Steve you show two different pens and 2 different pictures, I'm just pointing this out as it makes comparing kind of difficult, but I would like to point out that even with no finish on the wood, the color would change, as has been my experience, turning wood for the last 50 years, I have still some pieces that I made 45 years ago and some turned from a bright yellow to a coffee brown, and others that didn't change that dramatically, but they ALL did change color.
So my question would be is it the wood or the finish that changed color ??? or maybe both, what about also a difference between the 2 pieces of wood shown ????
These are just questions and points that should be taken in consideration I think, but thanks for showing your pens, BTW nice pens :)

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Ben I tried it on a bowl and it moved slightly. It cracked the CA. It is a bear to try and fix. It now sits on the shelf and has a yellow tinge to it. You might get away with it on small bowls but when getting into the 10" or larger it would get quite expensive like Ken said. I would use gloss lacquer, gloss poly or gloss waterlox. All three give nice gloss finish.

Hi Bernie, I'm wondering what caused the cracking of the CA and yellowing when you did the CA finishing, there must be something different between the CA or your way of applying it, maybe a oil coating on the wood already or different CA than what I use ????

The Honey Suckle pieces that I did 5 years ago ((4 pieces) and 3 split badly) I kept all 4 pieces, those were turned wet and 1 was boiled (shown in the other post) to see if I could prevent the wood from splitting, (the other pieces got treated in different ways) the boiled one did come out best.

Now I had another look at these pieces and yes the wood has moved, I mean you can see the big split and smaller ones, but the CA never cracked, and looking at the wood color and comparing the outside with the CA on it and the wood color inside the split with no CA on it, they look pretty much the same to me.

So here are 5 pictures that show how those pieces look today, no cracked CA and the color of the CA doesn't seem to have changed any, now for the wood color I do assume it has changed, and yes I do have original pictures somewhere also

So what kind of CA did you use Bernie ??, any finish on the wood before you used the CA on it ??, or maybe the type of wood could make a difference ??

[Ron Chapman]

Check out Jim's work. He's been doing it this way for years.
I've tried it and liked the results.

http://www.jimmcphail.com/

[Brian George]

to finish off some of my pepper mills. I use the medium mercury CA and sand 400 grit between coats. After the third coat I sand 600 and apply coat 4. Experimenting, I tried Hut acrylic polish after nbr 4 and it turned out fantastic. Will do it again...

[Larry Marley]

The president of the AAW, Bill Haskell uses CA as a base coat on his hollow forms. Then follows up with deft. The result is more detail and contrast in the wood.
Here is his web site...
http://www.billhaskell.com

[Steve Busey]

So my question would be is it the wood or the finish that changed color ??? or maybe both, what about also a difference between the 2 pieces of wood shown ????

Leo, good questions. Both pens were from the same stock. The top pen was "hot off the lathe", while the other was photographed after sitting in my carrying case for a few months. I still have some unfinished holly blanks from that purchase, and they are not discolored, so I have to make the assumption (yea, I know...) that the finish at least contributes to the yellowing, if it's not the only culprit.

Certainly, on most other (darker) woods, the yellowing would not be as noticeable - in fact I use it on 95% of my pens. Having said that, I have never considered using CA as a bowl finish, but it's more because of the application process than any discoloration concerns.

[Ben Brown27]

On the small test bowl I did, application was really incredibly easy. I didn't spend much time with it, but I'm pretty impressed with the possible results.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Leo I have used Insta-Bond from CSUSA and StickFast.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Hi Bernie, the CA I use is almost always Hot stuff or super T, don't really remember who makes it, Lee Valley carries it and they are local for me to pick it up when needed.
I have a feeling that the different manufacturer of the CA could very well be the cause of the yellowing, though I'm not really sure, but i don't know why some have the CA cause yellowing and others not.
I've used it a number of times to get around the coloration that happens when having to use CA for a knot or bark inclusion by covering the whole piece, if it isn't TOO big to do that.

[Ben Brown27]

So I finally got the camera out and took a picture of the small bowl I finished with CA. It's a piece of cherry about 5" wide and 3" tall.