Help with CA finish

[Joe McMahon]

I've turned some banksia pods for Christmas gifts. After turning, I sanded to 7000. While turning slowly (500 rpm) I put ca on a paper towel and put a thin coat on the pod. After four coats, the finish is dull. How can I get it to look like plastic?

[David Walser]

Put on another couple of coats. Then, start wet sanding with about 600 grit until the surface is smooth. Work through the grits wet sanding. Be careful not to sand through the CA finish. If you do, add several more coats and wet sand as before. When you are through wet sanding, you should have a deep, high-gloss finish. For a lot of items, the next step would be to buff. However, with all the voids in banksia pods, I'm afraid that buffing would leave unsightly spots of Tripoli or white diamond.

HTH

[Chip Palmer]

I won't normally sand to that high a finish on raw wood, I go up to 600 , then apply several coats of ca, let it dry and then sand ca down to 12000, get you a very high polish..shine