I agree that CA reacts with the cellulose in paper towel, but I have never found that to be an issue which caused me a problem, nor have I found it to leave fibres on the blank unless I worked too slowly and the CA dried during application. Nonetheless, not being one to dismiss a suggestion for an alternative method I have tried using greaseproof paper as you suggest and agree that it does indeed work very well. I doubt it will cause me to change my own practice but thank you for the suggestion. It is something to add to my repertoire and it might help Harry solve his problem.
I also agree that there is lot of rubbish on YouTube, but there is also a lot of useful and informative material. The problem for newcomers to pen making and wood turning is sorting the wheat from the chaff.
