Well, all my pen blank sets have their CA finish and are ready for assembly.

To prove I actually do work on the lathe, I made a little video of the process. It is edited to shorten the boredom and the audio is natural. The video shows the process I used to apply the CA and boiled linseed oil finish.

A couple of things about the operation. We had considered using a wax finish on these blanks. We found the wood is so soft that just the pressure of applying the Hut PPP wax dented the blank. Even when applying the CA finish, a fingernail touching the surface would dent it. I ended up wearing gloves to help prevent the problem.

So, without further ado and very little fanfare- Cecil B. DeKauffman presents.....

 

 

Next time the assembled pens.

EDIT: I forgot to add the link I used for information about this method- http://www.penmakersguild.com/articles/cafinish.pdf

Safe Turning.

I don't turn but your videos are always interesting. Thanks.

Thanks for the kind words, Harry.

I was starting to wonder what wood you were using to allow for such easy denting, but I saw it at the end.

Cool video, I have never tried the BLO style. I used to use Thin then thick CA, but that never seemed to work well, so I started using just thin CA. Works pretty well for me

 

 

Thanks for the kind words, Charles. We were going to use thin CA, too, but the wood kept "drinking"it up so fast that it would have taken way too many applications to get the shine!

 

I've made several pens with Medium CA glue but have not tried the BLO with the CA glue. What does the BLO do?

I started using it because of recommendations from other turners so I'm not certain of the accuracy of the following- but this is what I've found. I used paper shop towels to apply the CA. When I applied the CA directly to the paper towel, the reaction between the towel and CA was vigorous enough to produce visible "smoke" from the towels and it generated a lot of heat! This was especially true for thin CA- which seemed to have the fastest reaction.The BLO slowed the reaction significantly. The BLO also seemed to act as a lubricant to help smooth out the CA and reduce the "ripples" left in the finish. It also seemed to add a little depth to the color of the wood and bring out some of the grain patterns.  

 

One place I read that turners used mineral oil instead of CA. I didn't try that to see if it worked or how it might affect the color of the wood.

 

 

In the past, I had only used Hut PPP finishes for wooden pens. This was my first extensive use of this type of finish. Personally, I really like the feel of the wood and the look of the Hut finish- not as "plastic".

 

I'm not a big fan of using CA glue for a finish. I would guess I have done 20 or 30 pens that way. Some on purpose but mostly as a repair when a burl chipped out or broke off. I put medium CA glue in the hole and pack it with wood chips. When I do use CA I turn the pen thinner than the bushing than called for. Your going to build up the CA the point that you can sand it to make your finish. I only use medium CA for the finish. If I turn two pens out of the same wood and compare them at the end, the one without the CA looks like real wood and the other like plastic.

I agree about the "plastic look". These were finished like this because of the extremely soft wood and hoping to give it some wear strength.