CA glue sanding question

[Chris Haas]

A while back i turned an urn out of maple, and had to stabilize some parts with ca glue, well, now i'm ready to finish sand it and apply finish. my question is this, do i need to sand all ca glue discoloration off the wood, or will it blend with the polyurethane finish. thanks, in advance, will post finished pics.

[Gary Max]

The easy answer-----the CA soaked in and you can't sand it all off.

[Dennis Ford]

Sadly, Gary is right. You may be able to even it out by using more CA but will not be able to remove the discoloration.

[Jeff Nicol]

Chris, What I have noticed after using about a gallon of CA in the last few years, if you are using the lighter woods you notice the CA more that on dark woods. That being said if you are planning on using an oil or poly finish, most times the finish will blend the colors and you won't see much of a difference. But if you plan to dye or stain the wood you are pretty much out of luck, but there are still remedies for that too. What mostly happens with the CA is that all the pores and grain are filled with the CA and if it soaks in good, that section is completly sealed and will always look different when buffed out (More like glass) but you can put on a few good coats of lacquer and sand it back and get the whole thing looking the same. Then if you want to color it you can mix some transtint or other dye in the lacquer and do the finish coats with that. Spraying is the best way, but it can be done with a brush, but brush it on and do not go over it with the brush at all or you will get smears.

It just takes some forthought when using the CA to fill cracks, putting some lacquer or shellac on the piece and let that dry before you fill the crack will help manage the color change also.

Good luck and have fun,

Jeff

[Chris Haas]

of course the urn is maple, so there may be some slight discoloration, but i think if i use poly, it wont be that bad. thanks for the help.

[Brian Brown]

When you finish the piece, scrub the area good with acetone. It thins the CA, and washes it into the pores of the surrounding area, effectively feathering out the edge of the stain. This way the edge of the stain is not so noticeable, and it looks more like the natural grain and figure of the wood. It works for me on pens, YMMV.

[Mark Levitski]

Chris, the suggestion to seal the surrounding wood first with shellac or other stuff (I've used spray shellac successfully and heard of using lacquer and wax) is good. It works, but I always worried that the sealer also gets into the crack somewhat and therefore stops the CA penetration and weakens the bond a little. Lately I have had success by immediately using accelerator after applying the CA. It seems to halt the penetration to a depth that can be easily sanded out. I tried this after seeing another turner's work where he used CA w/o staining. I asked how he did it--not by sealing first, but accelerator. I have not used the sealing treatment since. I have not had any success with oil finishes blending the stain. It still stands out enough to be distinct and noticeable.

Brian, I'll try the acetone if I do get a CA stain.

Chris, I still have some turned and stained pieces around the house that I kept rather than offered for sale. They are very nice pieces marking some of my personal milestones on the learning curve of turning, but they have that fatal flaw that most people wouldn't even notice, but I do.

Mark

[Frank Van Atta]

I have used CA glue successfully on literally hundreds of cracks and inlays without discoloring the wood - including stuff like light pine.

I take the piece through turning and sanding to 240, then put on one coat of shellac (sanding sealer), do whatever I'm going to do with the CA (leaving it slightly proud of the surface to make sure it completely fills the crack/void), then remove the excess CA with a cabinet scraper until the surface is smooth and free of stain (takes off the shellac AND the CA glue on top of it), then resand with 240 and continue on from there as normal.

You need a good, sharp scraper. Even with a light touch it will takes of the CA pretty quickly. When you stop getting little white curls and flakes of CA and start getting wood dust, you're there. It's much easier and quicker than it sounds.

[David Woodruff]

This procedure works for me. Prior to using CA for whatever, I sand up to 500-800, almost a final sand. I apply vinyl sealer(Behlens) usually with a brush. Let the vinyl cure a day or two then do whatever with the CA. This procedure prevents the CA from acting like a sealer. A final sanding will remove the CA from over the vinyl. Re-seal with vinyl. Then proceed with the finishing coats. I use vinyl sealer exclusively for the initial sealing coat. I have used the rest; vinyl is the best

Patience is a necessity for achieving a great finish.