Dean Thomas
12-30-2007, 5:22 PM
Like most of my questions, they come with a story. This one is no different. I'm also in touch off-forum with Jon Lanier about this issue. Looking everywhere for solutions.
Did the last of my Christmas turning yesterday afternoon (well, ALmost the last; sigh), finishing 3 pens for close personal friends from church. Two in Spanish olive and one in wenge. Got one olive done and assembled and the second one done with finish applied but not final sanded. And I got the third one in wenge turned and all but the last two coats of thick CA applied (CA finishes on all 3). Went to the last Christmas party of the year, left early, came home expecting to get in the shop and finish up in 30-45 minutes and be done for the night. That was 10:15pm. At 2:15, I could not get the wenge finish to work to save my neck. I sanded it off, cleaned it off, recoated, same issues arose. That blank has had 4 different runs at the CA finish and all failed.
The failures look like bubbles of varying sizes under the CA coating. If you've done epoxy finishes on floors and had an area "release" or if you've seen bubbles under the ice that forms on puddles, you have seen what I saw. Some were little tiny things that looked like bubbles trapped in a wood pore or even just a little bit of wood fluff under the surface. Others were almost 1/2" in length, wrapping about 1/2 the pen. Very, very disheartening when the rest of it looked sooooooo good.
Do any of you successfully use CA finishes on wenge? If so, what's your method, please?
And if you don't use CA on wenge because of this, what finish do you use? Details on any special application would be appreciated.
Always and ever looking for ways to make 'em better! :)
Did the last of my Christmas turning yesterday afternoon (well, ALmost the last; sigh), finishing 3 pens for close personal friends from church. Two in Spanish olive and one in wenge. Got one olive done and assembled and the second one done with finish applied but not final sanded. And I got the third one in wenge turned and all but the last two coats of thick CA applied (CA finishes on all 3). Went to the last Christmas party of the year, left early, came home expecting to get in the shop and finish up in 30-45 minutes and be done for the night. That was 10:15pm. At 2:15, I could not get the wenge finish to work to save my neck. I sanded it off, cleaned it off, recoated, same issues arose. That blank has had 4 different runs at the CA finish and all failed.
The failures look like bubbles of varying sizes under the CA coating. If you've done epoxy finishes on floors and had an area "release" or if you've seen bubbles under the ice that forms on puddles, you have seen what I saw. Some were little tiny things that looked like bubbles trapped in a wood pore or even just a little bit of wood fluff under the surface. Others were almost 1/2" in length, wrapping about 1/2 the pen. Very, very disheartening when the rest of it looked sooooooo good.
Do any of you successfully use CA finishes on wenge? If so, what's your method, please?
And if you don't use CA on wenge because of this, what finish do you use? Details on any special application would be appreciated.
Always and ever looking for ways to make 'em better! :)