Filling small voids on a pen?

[Rob Price]

Finally got my pen kits in from CSU (and my sharpening jig, and pepper mills...) and turned up my first cigar pen using some white oak burl I cut off my soon to be pepper/salt mills. It's great looking stuff, but has small voids here and there. I started the finish using General Finishes WTF, I've been happy using it on a few other pieces, but it took forever to get any kind of build on the wood (5 or 6 coats to be glossy), I can't imagine how long it would take to fill in those small voids. I tried sanding it back down to wood, and all the voids got filled with white powder that would not come out. I left it 'as is' and sanded it/buffed it/polished it with the WTF. Not ugly enough to throw away, but not pretty enough to post here either. Nice finish on most of the wood, but the voids stand out. I really like the feel of the WTF once it's polished. It's not as hard/plasticy feeling as other poly's I've used in the past- of course I didn't sand those to 12,000 grit either. But for pens, I want that glassy/glossy look- I think.

I've read about people using CA glue on pens, or a CA/BLO combo. Would that build any quicker?

I figured I would turn a few more pens out of this wood to get a feel for finishing it before I turn my pepper/salt mills.

Just curious what the experts do.

Side note, also turned up a beautiful carbon fiber acrylic cigar pen, only to have the front blank crack near the edge as I pressed in the coupling. Replacement blank on it's way courtesy of CSU. Just gotta remove the front nib without tearing it up. Then I might actually be able to post some pics. Learning curve, right?

Side note 2: My 8 year old boy wants to start making pens. Once I get a little more proficient (ie I get a clue as to what I am doing), I think this would be a good way to introduce him to woodworking. Now my shop time becomes father/son time :)

[Carl Civitella]

Hi, best way to fill those voids in oak is to sand and apply c/a forming a slurry with the sanding dust and c/a. It takes a learning curve to get the hang of it but it is a knock out finish. It is worth the time an effort to learn it becausae you can use the technique for all types of turnings without an ideal surface. Good luck Carl

[John Terefenko]

Yes a CA finish would build quicker because at first you should use a med grade CA and it is thicker. Yesthere is a learner curve and for some it is steeper than others. There is always 2 schools of thought on the look and feel of wood on pens. If you go with a standard poly or lacquer finish you get just that. I would prefer the lacquer because poly definetly is a plastic feel. But being I use CA I like the deep look of it and also the feel.

As far as the Carbon fiber goes it probably could be saved if you have all the pieces and agin need to be able to work with CA as a finish.

One side note. The blank cracked because there was too much friction in pushing the parts together. This can be cause by a myriad of things such as some build up inside the tube, the tube being a tad out of round, and the big one having a burr left inside due to the barrel trimming however you did it or the parts were not totally lined up straight when you pressed them in. Just look for these every time you go to put a kit together. You need to develop a sense of feel. If the parts are going in too tough, stop and pull aprt and investagate why. Better to have them loose which you can fix with some red loctight, then to have them too tight and thus you get the results you did.

Good luck and look forward to seeing the pen.

[Donny Lawson]

Go with straight CA. Do not add BLO. For small voids use med. CA and apply it while the lathe is running at about 300-400rpms. Smooth it down with a paper towel(quickly) or it will stick. Eight to ten coats can be applied in a matter of minutes and wet sand to 12000. Your voids will be filled an you will have a shine like no other. Any problems just let me know.

[Andrew Kertesz]

Many people doing pens use closed cell foam for doing a CA finish. As Donny said do it quickly or it won't matter what your using.

[Rob Price]

Cool, thanks. I had though about wet sanding with BLO before the CA glue as well to create a slurry- on Dresdner's blog he talks about the BLO reacting with the CA for a quicker drying- I had wondered if it created any compatibility problems since it doesn't get a chance to cure.

Do you guys ever put anything on top of the CA like lacquer or poly? Or just polish and buff the CA itself?

The carbon fiber blank is a small crack near the coupler. I may pry the pen apart and just see if I can't get some thin CA to seep in there- if not I have a replacement blank in the mail. It's still definitely usable- the first two people I showed the pen to didn't even notice- but I notice it. The blank came pre-casted, so I don't think there was any glue in there, but I didn't check for dust or anything else before I assembled it. I haven't built my pen vise yet (I have a toggle clamp lying around that will be perfect) so I was just using a regular clamp- it may not have been perfectly lined up when I did it.

[Jim Burr]

Filling gaps with slurry looks like gaps filled with slurry. Sanding sealer or a heavier CA works well for a "Natural" look. Sometimes, in paduk or wenge, I like to leave the grain open for a textural feel and look. Papertowel folded about 4 times works well, the ridges come out with 600 W/D. Anything you use to apply the CA finish will leave a "trail"...just knock it down after the 4-5th coat.

[Rob Price]

I bought the thin-med-thick CA set from Rockler. Maybe the thick to fill the gaps? I told myself I'd go with the natural/oil rubbed look- but that shiny/glossy look is calling me- at least for now.

I have some 2-3" scraps that are too short for complete pens, I'll practice on those.

[Bill Hensley]

Rob since I'm a newb at pen turning and I just made progress on the learning curve I'll share what I've discovered so far on the CA finish. As of last night, CA alone gives me better results than CA/BLO. Blue shop towels work better than Bounty. Fresh CA is a must. Using medium CA with an accelerator I can apply many coats pretty quickly. I still get small ridges but they sand out with 400. I then followup with micro mesh then polishes. The results were impressive. Be sure to wear some gloves, I had a CA mess on my finger I'm still peeling off.

I was determined I was going to get the hang of it and I think I'm pretty close to being able to do it routinely. Good luck!

[Rob Price]

Cool. I'll start there then and skip the BLO. All I have right now are cigar bushings but no more kits. My super sampler kit from CSU is still on backorder, so I ordered some additional pens from Woodcraft with their recent sale (they had some other goodies I needed, so I threw in a few pens). My wife wanted some less hefty pens, so I bough some different kits- and forgot the bushings until today. Then I realized I shouldn't be buying pens from two different places, unless I want to buy everyone's bushings as well. These pens are getting expensive!

The pens get here tomorrow, the bushings some time next week- they aren't moving with the weekend coming up. Hopefully by this time next week I'll have some pics.

[Scott Lux]

For CA finish, I prefer to use a coat (sometimes two) of thin CA. Seems to fill pores etc. Then I'll switch to medium CA for additional coats. You can keep a "wood feel" if you use only one coat of thin CA. The wood is still very well protected.

For application, I use nitrile gloves.
Use one finger of the glove to apply. Use that finger for several applications. When it's too crunchy, use a different finger. I put only one finger of the glove on my index finger, I hold the rest of the glove in my palm. You can get many pens out of a single glove. Also, the glove will tear away easily if it gets caught. There is no safety issue there.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Yes, I know it's too late now, but IMO the best thing to do to fill voids, is to prevent them. SO, what I do is sneak up on the final pen dimensions. Turn down the blank, leave it thick. I then get to the final dimensions with my trusty 80 grit gouge, 100 grit etc. This takes a LONG time, but, especially for burls and other figured wods, I feel that prevention is the best cure. This process could be problematic for heat sensitive wood and the plastics.

Just my $0.02.

[Keith E Byrd]

+1 for what Scott said. I find I usually do 4 coats of thin CA and then 4-6 coats of med CA. Really produces an outstanding finish.

[Jim Howe]

I am still learning, so ….well let’s just say I’m still learning :D.
That said, both Russ Fairfield and Captain Eddie Castelin have excellent videos on using CA as a pen finish. I won’t post direct links as I don’t know if that’s ok. However, either will come up on a goggle search. If you’re like me seeing it done really helps.

[Rob Price]

I bought some long punches at HF that should be perfect for disassembling the pen (I know it would probably just be better to start a new one, but I don't like leaving the pen like it is) so I can put it back on the lathe. I left a hair more on the blank than the bushing, not sure how it would fit after sanding, and I put a little bulge on it, so I think I have enough wood left to scrape it back down to wood and try again. I may just sand it down to wood using some 80 grit. But if I'm going to use this pen every day at work, I want it to look nice. Call me type A. I'll watch those videos.

Hopefully pics of a successful save (of an $8 pen kit and scrap wood :P) coming soon.

[Bill Hensley]

406 coats of medium should take care of any voids you encounter...just saying:rolleyes:

[James Combs]

For CA finish, I prefer to use a coat (sometimes two) of thin CA. Seems to fill pores etc. Then I'll switch to medium CA for additional coats. You can keep a "wood feel" if you use only one coat of thin CA. The wood is still very well protected.
For application, I use nitrile gloves.
Use one finger of the glove to apply. Use that finger for several applications. When it's too crunchy, use a different finger. I put only one finger of the glove on my index finger, I hold the rest of the glove in my palm. You can get many pens out of a single glove. Also, the glove will tear away easily if it gets caught. There is no safety issue there.

Ditto what Scott said except I use paper towels. Thin then medium is the way to go.

[Rob Price]

It worked! Had to sand down to wood but it worked. Only prob now is the top is way lighter than the bottom. Apparently the CA darkens the wood more than the WTF (which will work out well when I do my salt and pepper grinders from the same wood. Salt will get WTF and be lighter. Pepper will get CAand be darker).

Ill try to get pics up tomorrow. I'm already in the doghouse for staying up late in the shop.

[Keith E Byrd]

406 coats of medium should take care of any voids you encounter...just saying:rolleyes:
The hardest problem with 406 coats is I keep losing count somewhere after 60!
I corrected my post - should of been 4-6!